Mother Lode unemployment rates rise in tandem with regional stay-home order

Mother Lode unemployment rates increased in December for the first time since peaking in April during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released Friday by the California Employment Development Division.

The uptick coincides with both Tuolumne and Calaveras counties being placed under a regional stay-athome order on Dec. 6 as part of the San Joaquin Valley region due to the area’s collective availability of intensive care unit beds dropping below 15% amidst a winter surge of coronavirus infections, hospitalizations, and death.

Certain businesses, including bars, nail salons, barbers and hair salons, are not supposed to operate while under a regional stay-at-home order. Operational restrictions are also placed on other types of businesses, such as restaurants that are supposed to do take-out or delivery only as opposed to outdoor or indoor dining service.

Tuolumne County’s preliminary unemployment rate for December was 9.5%, up from 7.4% the previous month, while Calaveras County’s was 7.3%, up from 5.9% in November. Both rates were more than double what they were for December 2019, which for Tuolumne County was 3.9% and for Calaveras County was 3.4%.

Unemployment in both counties has been trending downward since topping out in April at record or near-record rates of unemployment, which at the time coincided with an initial California-wide stay-athome order put in place by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The unemployment rate for Tuolumne County in April was 17.3%, which bested previous records set during the height of the 2008-2010 recession, while Calaveras County’s was 13.3% was slightly less than record highs set during the recession.

Calaveras County supervisors recently agreed to send a letter to the state Department of Public Health requesting to be moved from the San Joaquin Valley region and into the Greater Sacramento region, which was released from a regional stay-at-home order due to a four-week projection for ICU availability rising above 15%.

As of Friday, the San Joaquin Valley region’s ICU availability remained at 0%, as it has for weeks, and was below the threshold to have the stay-at-home order lifted based on a fourweek projection.

Tuolumne County’s unemployment rate for December was higher than the statewide unemployment rate of 8.8%, as well as the nationwide unemployment rate at 6.5%. The county had a net loss of 320 jobs in December from the previous month, with the service-providing businesses suffering the greatest losses of any private sector industry.