Sentinel staff report–
In May 2010, the unemployment rate was 12.6% in Citrus Heights, and nearly the same statewide. But after steady drops over the past eight years, the unemployment rate hit a record low point of just 3.4% in May this year, according to data released by the State of California’s Employment Development Department (EDD).
While finalized figures for June have not been released for Citrus Heights and other cities, statewide data from the EDD is available for June and shows California’s unemployment rate has remained at 4.2% for the past three months, which it said is “a record low level in a series dating back to 1976.”
EDD reported nine of California’s eleven industry sectors added a total of 272,800 jobs over the past year, with the largest job gains seen in educational and health services, which added nearly 76,000 jobs. Professional and business services, as well as leisure and hospitality jobs, also saw increases of about 40,000 jobs in each category.
More modest increases were seen in construction, trade, transportation and utilities, government, information, manufacturing and financial activities. The only two industry sectors to see job declines over the past year were mining and logging, as well as jobs in a category for “other services.”
As expected with more people being employed, the EDD reported unemployment insurance claims dropped by 10% compared to last year, with a total of 303,592 people currently receiving unemployment benefits — down from a little over 330,000 last year.
See EDD report: Click here.
Locally, unemployment trends are being noticed by the Citrus Heights Chamber of Commerce, which has seen an increase in membership over the past year.
“Nationwide, chambers are seeing an increase in membership, specifically [from] women-owned businesses and young professionals, and we are seeing that also in our membership,” said Cendrinne DeMattei, executive director of the local chamber. “The entrepreneur is taking the lead here,” she added, noting that the majority of the chamber’s members are small business owners.
Citrus Heights Mayor Steve Miller, commenting on the May unemployment data, said he was pleased to hear the numbers, but didn’t take any credit for the low unemployment rate — noting that workers in the city are employed throughout the region, making regional factors come more into play, as well as national factors.
At the national level, Republicans are quick to credit last year’s GOP tax overhaul for economic growth, while Democrats have argued that President Donald Trump largely inherited an economy that has been improving each year since 2010.
Kathilynn Carpenter, who heads up the Sunrise MarketPlace Business Improvement District, also said local trends are a reflection of national unemployment trends, which currently rest at 4% unemployment. She also noted the latest figures for Citrus Heights don’t yet account for the closures of Sears and Toys R Us, but expressed confidence that “the market will absorb the jobs.”
“If it was ’08 or ’09, that’d be a different story, but not in this economy,” said Carpenter, who represents over 400 businesses along the Greenback-Sunrise corridor.
While low unemployment is a positive sign for the economy, it also presents a challenge for businesses seeking to hire new employees, who are now finding a shrinking pool of candidates to hire.
“Like many employers we are finding it quite challenging to consistently identify quality candidates not only for the various clients we recruit for, but for our own internal needs as well,” said Ronnie Cobb, a senior director of HR with SearchPros Staffing, a Citrus Heights-based company which helps recruit new employees for its business clients.
From 2017: Two Citrus Heights companies listed among fastest-growing in region
At the city level, only preliminary data has been released for June, which indicates unemployment in Citrus Heights saw an uptick last month to a “non-seasonally adjusted” rate of 4.3%.
National and statewide unemployment data is typically reported in terms of seasonally adjusted rates, which economic analysts apply to compensate for annual trends in seasonal jobs which tend to increase unemployment figures in January and June. However, the state does not report seasonally adjusted rates at the city level, making comparisons difficult.
While seasonally adjusted rates at the state level show the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2% between May and June, non-seasonally adjusted rates show an increase from 3.7% in May up to 4.5% in June. Citrus Heights also showed a similar increase during the same period, likely due to seasonal trends in employment.
