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The latest figures from the state Employment Development Department show that the Humboldt County unemployment rate has shattered a psychological ceiling. Dennis Mullins, the EDD stats man for the North Coast, writes:
Humboldt’s preliminary January 2009 jobless rate was 11.1 percent, up 2.1 percent from the revised December 2008 rate of 9.0 percent and 3.5 percent above the year-ago, January 2008 rate of 7.6 percent … At 11.1 percent, Humboldt ranked 24th among the State’s 58 counties. Some surrounding county rates included 12.4 percent for Del Norte, 17.6 percent for Siskiyou, 20.9 percent for Trinity, 15.2 percent for Shasta, and 10.8 percent for Mendocino. Marin County had the lowest rate at 6.6 percent and Colusa had the highest with 26.7 percent. The comparable U.S. rate was 8.5 percent.
Here’s a spreadsheet (.xls) that includes industry-specific breakdowns and comparisons with state and national trends. The numbers are not adjusted for seasonal employment.
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Alas the most likely trend is for the (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate to continue rising into the summer and perhaps much longer. The statewide unemployment rate is fast approaching the highest level in 27 years. The economic free-fall is likely to carry the state unemployment rate to 13-15 percent in the coming months, and along with it Humboldt County. Let’s hope the federal stimulus plan will slow the economic collapse before it pulls us into a full-bore depression. I also expect state tax revenues will fall below forecast, plunging the state budget back into the red by May/June.
Hackett lays it out, nuff said.