North Bay Business Journal

Unemployment rates across the North Bay had the seasonal drop in April from March but were markedly improved from figures for the previous April, as private-sector hiring increased in some counties while it remained flat in others, according to state figures released today.

NORTH BAY — Unemployment rates across the North Bay remained high in February and were barely changed from January, but all six counties had considerably lower rates than a year before, according to state figures released this morning.

The latest statistics from the California Employment Development Department show that Napa County has added 1,400 net jobs since September of last year.

Unemployment rates across the North Bay edged downward in September, as the school year and harvest season spurred job growth in some counties while professional services grew in others, according to the state Employment Development Department.

NORTH BAY — Unemployment rates across the North Bay dropped in August, as the start of the school year spurred hiring by the government sector and professional services in some counties enjoyed a rebound in hiring, according to figures releases this morning from the Employment Development Department. However, job gains that had been posted through much of the year stalled during the month.

NORTH BAY — High unemployment rates across the North Bay in July either were virtually the same as in June or a year before or barely edged upward, as private-sector job gains were offset by fewer government jobs, according to state figures released this morning.

NORTH BAY – Despite a persistently high unemployment rate on both a national and local level, many employers are having a difficult time finding top-tier talent and filling an increasing amount of positions, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

NORTH BAY — Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties had a total of 2,630 more jobs in June than a year before, but that was offset by 3,200 fewer jobs in Solano and Napa counties over that 12-month period, according to state figures released this morning. Unemployment rates in Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties in June increased from revised May figures as the summer construction season picked up and schools let out. While the year-over-year North Bay and statewide jobless rates were largely unchanged in June, Sonoma County’s four-10ths of a point decrease bested the nation’s three-10ths of a point drop.

NORTH BAY — Unemployment rates in April dropped all across the North Bay, led by a significant uptick in leisure and hospitality hiring, while Sonoma County continued to post yearly increases in jobs, according to figures released this morning by the state Employment Development Department.

NORTH BAY — Unemployment rates across the North Bay either remained flat at high levels or inched upward in March, but Sonoma County continued a four-month stretch of substantial year-over-year job growth, reaching 5,000 net new jobs last month, according to state estimates released today.

NORTH BAY — Unemployment rates across the North Bay in February mostly improved from the month and year before, according to figures released today from the Economic Development Department.

NORTH BAY — While the nation’s jobless rate dropped below 9 percent to 8.9, unemployment edged upward in much of the region in January, with Sonoma County seeing an increase of half a percentage point. Mendocino, Lake and Solano counties all saw increases, while Napa and Marin remained the same, according to state figures released this morning from the Employment Development Department.

The chart in a recent post tells the North Bay jobs story, tracking the percent change year-over-year employment in Sonoma County since January 2001. The most encouraging news is that for the first time since January 2008, Sonoma County had more jobs in December than the previous year.

Hiring among employers in Sonoma County starting in mid-2009 turned a rapid two-year erosion in employment into even faster improvement, according to the latest state figures. The result was annual job growth of 0.7 percent, or 1,200 net new jobs, in December 2010. It doesn’t seem like much, but it was the first positive year-over-year growth in three years.

Sonoma County in December eked out its first annual net increase in jobs in three years, easing its jobless rate by three-10ths of a point to 10 percent, according to state employment figures released today. For the other North Bay counties as well as the state and nation, December unemployment rates remained high but largely unchanged from both November and 12 months before.

San Rafael- and Los Angeles-based Beacon Economics forecasts California’s unemployment rate will remain above 12 percent through the first half of 2011 and won’t dip below 10 percent before the end of 2012.

NORTH BAY — Unemployment rates in North Bay counties rose 50 to 130 basis points in November from a year before, but the jobless rates in Marin and Sonoma counties remained unchanged at high levels, according to state figures released this morning.

NORTH BAY — Unemployment rates throughout the North Bay remained at high levels in October and were virtually unchanged from a year ago, except for improvement in Sonoma County and worsening in Lake County, according to state figures released today.

NORTH BAY — The joblessness rate in September across the North Bay remain stuck above a year ago and were little changed from August.

NORTH BAY — The August unemployment rate dropped slightly in all but one North Bay county, according to data released by the Employment Development Department today, while the state and national rates edged slightly downward as well.

Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake and Solano counties all saw slight decreases in unemployment while Napa remained flat.