[caption id="attachment_58096" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="North Bay job growth and industry employment, January 2006-June 2012. Source: California Employment Development Department. Analysis: North Bay Business Journal. Marin County is excluded because data from 2012 is not available. (click to enlarge)"][/caption]
Unemployment rates in June increased in Sonoma, Solano, Marin and Napa counties from May and remained the same in Mendocino and Lake Counties, but the number of jobs in the region continued to rise, both from the month before and the previous June, according to the California Employment Development Department.
Jobless rates for Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties beat the June national average of 8.4 percent
Sonoma County’s unemployment rate was 8.7 percent in June, up from a revised 8.3 percent rate in May. Unemployment was 10.1 percent during the same period last year. Despite the uptick from May, the unemployment rate dropped sharply in April and May from 9.5 percent in March.
The county had 700 net new jobs in June compared with May, resulting in growth of 0.4 percent. The county had 5,000 more jobs in June from a year before, an increase of 2.8 percent.
The biggest growth over the previous year came in goods producing industries, up 4,600 jobs, or 3.2 percent. Manufacturing led the way with 1,500 jobs, up 7.3 percent, split almost evenly between nondurable goods such as wine and food and durable goods.
Marin County continued to post the lowest unemployment rate in California, with a jobless rate last month of 6.6 percent, up from 6.3 percent in May but below the 7.7 percent rate in June of last year.
Industry job data isn’t available for the county in the first half of this year. Monthly and annual job growth were trending positive last year, ending 2011 up 1.6 percent to 103,800 jobs.
Napa County, with a June jobless rate of 7.8 percent, had the third best in the state. The June rate was up slightly from May but down from 8.9 percent in a year before.
Job growth in June from May and the prior year were the same -- 400 new jobs, up 0.6 percent. The strongest growth over the year was in services, up 600, or 1.2 percent. Goods producing jobs dipped 300, or 2.2 percent, led by 200 fewer, down 1.8 percent, in manufacturing, mainly of wine
The unemployment rate in Solano County rose half a percentage point from May to 10.5 percent. That was well below the 11.8 percent rate a year before.
There have been 2,400 net jobs created in the county in the past year, up 2 percent, and 100 net jobs created in June, growth of one-10th of a percentage point.
The June unemployment rate for Mendocino County was 9.7 percent, unchanged from May but a full percentage point lower than at the same time in 2011.
Lake County’s unemployment rate last month remained unchanged at 14.7 percent, but was down 2.1 percentage points from last June.
Lake County’s estimated June jobless rate was the only North Bay rate exceeding the state average of 10.7 percent.
