County posts 20.7 percent unemployment in September

EL CENTRO — The bright side to September’s unemployment numbers for Imperial County was that they were an improvement on the month before. The downside was they were more than 13 percentage points higher than the next highest county in California and 0.7 percentage point higher than they were the same time a year ago.

Preliminary estimates from the state Employment Development Department put the September unemployment rate for Imperial County at 20.7 percent. That’s compared to 3.5 percent for the state and 3.3 percent for the nation.

The county unemployment rate was 20 percent in September 2018.

Nevertheless, the rate was a significant drop from the revised 24.4 percent the county posted for August.

The local civilian workforce was 1.4 percent smaller in September versus August, based on preliminary estimates. The county labor force was approximately 72,700 workers last month, compared to a revised 73,700 in August.

Meanwhile, the number of jobs available in the county were up an estimated 3.3 percent in September, increasing from 60,600 in August to 62,600. Roughly 1,500 of those new jobs came from the farming sector.

Imperial County’s September unemployment rate was particularly ugly by comparison to other areas in the state. The next highest rates in California belonged to Tulare and Colusa counties, with 7.6 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.

San Mateo and Marin counties posted miniscule rates of 1.7 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.