Region’s unemployment rate dips below 3%
The unemployment rate in the tri-county region dipped just below 3% in September, as the state of California hit a new record low of 3.9%, according to data released Oct. 21 by the California Employment Development Department.
Ventura County’s unemployment rate in September was 3.3%, down from 3.5% in August.
In Santa Barbara County, the September unemployment rate was 2.7%, down from 2.9% in August.
And San Luis Obispo County had the region’s lowest unemployment rate, at 2.5% in September, down from 2.7% in August.
Statewide, the rate dropped from 4.1% in August to 2.9% in September. That continued a long pattern of improvement as the job market recovers from the shock of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. The state has now regained 99.1% of the 2.8 million nonfarm jobs lost in March and April of 2020, the Employment Development Department said in its Oct. 21 news release.
In September, the biggest statewide job gains came in education and health services, with 15,000 jobs added from the previous month. The leisure and hospitality sector was next, with 8,700 jobs added. Government lost the most jobs, with a decline of 16,100 from August to September.
