Joblessness in Kern County rose half a percent in October to 14.5 percent, according to figures released Friday morning by the Employment Development Department.
That’s lower than the nearly 15 percent of this March, which was the highest in years, but it’s way higher than a year ago, when 9.6 percent were unemployed.
In all, about 54,600 Kern County residents were looking for work in October.
Statewide, unemployment was at 12.3 percent. Nationwide, it was 9.5 percent.
Kern’s 14.5 percent is a countywide average. In some areas, it’s much higher. In Arvin, 36 percent were unemployed. In Delano, 35.2 percent were unemployed. In Bakersfield, 10.1 percent were looking for work.
Overall, there were 1,100 fewer jobs in the county in October than there were in September. That includes the loss of 200 jobs each in the manufacturing, construction and hospitality categories.
A full description of the monthly statistics is available at the EDD website:
http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/lfmonth/bake$pds.pdf
and
http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/lfmonth/kernsub.xls
