Jobless rate at 4.8%, slightly over state average

Humboldt County’s unemployment rate for January averages out at 4.8%, just barely higher than the state’s 4.6% average, according to statistics released on Wednesday.

From December to January, no industry in Humboldt County saw expansion or growth, making it in line with six other counties in Northern California: Marin, Solano, Mendocino, Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties. The systemic decrease in employment is indicative of a softer market, said Randy Weaver, a labor market consultant with the California Employment Development Department.

“Some of the downturns, some of the losses for employment were in retail trade, which had 300 jobs, and leisure and hospitality, which had 200 jobs, but this is the time of year when typically they do shed some employment. So that wasn’t unusual,” Weaver said. “But the fact that there was no employment expansion was very interesting to me because even over the last couple of years through the pandemic, there were always at least a few industries, mainly, goods-producing industries like construction, manufacturing, farm, that were adding employment. The fact that nobody is (adding jobs) shows the market is getting a little soft.”

The local downturn in employment comes at a time when the state and national employment levels saw an uptick: the state went up by 0.7% and national employment increased by 1.1% from December to January.

Weaver noted that he is not an economist, but climbing interest rates and recent bank crises have injected uncertainty into the market, and businesses tend to avoid hiring when the overall market looks uncertain.

From December to January, the largest sectors which lost jobs were retail trade, which shed 300 jobs, with leisure and hospitality and total government losing 200 jobs.

Weaver added that the Dec. 20, 2022, earthquake likely had some impact on the local economy, but he saw similar economic trends in neighboring counties that were less affected.

Some workers left the labor force from December to January, which in tandem with shrinking businesses contributed to the unemployment numbers

“From December to January, about 400 people exited the county’s labor force and additionally, the county’s civilian employment dropped by about 1,100 people,” Weaver said. “There was also a market increase rate under there and the number of people who are unemployed and so those are also some of the forces that are working on that rate.”

Arcata topped the list of cities in the county with the highest unemployment rate, with 7.7% of the labor force without a job, roughly 800 people. Rio Dell came in second with a 5.3% unemployment rate, about 100 people, with Blue Lake, Redway and Eureka following behind.

The unemployment numbers for February are expected to be released on Friday.