Unemployment Rate Falls in San Diego County, La Mesa

SAN DIEGO, CA: The unemployment rate in San Diego County was 4.5 percent last month, the lowest since May 2007, the state Employment Development Department announced Friday.

That's down from a steady run of 4.7 percent between December and March, and below the 5 percent recorded in April of last year, according to EDD data.

La Mesa's unemployment rate was 4.6 percent last month — 1,400 people were unemployed — down from 4.8 percent in March.

The city of San Diego had a jobless rate of 4.3 percent in April — 30,200 people were unemployed — down from 4.5 percent in March.

California's unemployment rate last month was 5.2 percent, while the nationwide rate was 4.7 percent. Neither figure is seasonally adjusted.

The EDD said the hospitality industry led the way in job gains last month in preparation for the summer tourism season, as food and drinking establishments added 1,900 employees. Another 1,700 jobs were added in construction.

On the down side, manufacturing lost 1,200 positions in April.

Over the course of the year, the biggest pick-ups in jobs were in health care and social assistance, bars and restaurants, construction, administration and local government, the agency reported.

Around 70,800 San Diegans were unemployed in April, almost 7,000 less than one year earlier, out of a civilian labor force of almost 1.6 million people.

Nonfarm jobs in California totaled 16,381,500 in April, an increase of 59,600 jobs over the month, according to a survey of businesses that is larger and less variable statistically. The survey of 58,000 California businesses measures jobs in the economy. The year-over-year change, April 2015 to April 2016, shows an increase of 450,200 jobs (up 2.8 percent).

The federal survey of households, done with a smaller sample than the survey of employers, shows an increase in the number of employed people. It estimates the number of Californians holding jobs in April was 18,071,000, an increase of 33,000 from March, and up 355,000 from the employment total in April of last year. The number of people unemployed in California was 1,013,000 – down by 8,000 over the month, and down by 211,000 compared with April of last year.

In related data, the EDD reported that statewide, there were 398,005 people receiving regular Unemployment Insurance benefits during the April survey week. This compares with 420,502 in March and 415,987 in April of last year. At the same time, new claims for Unemployment Insurance were 46,821 in April, compared with 44,305 in March and 47,462 in April of last year.

— City News Service contributed to this report.