December unemployment rates jumped throughout Lima region
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Jan 25, 2017
Santa Clara County reported unemployment of 3.3 percent.
With December's rate, the county in 2016 recorded an average annual unemployment rate of 5.2 percent, matching the jobless rate in 2007, the year before the onset of the Great Recession.
St. Lawrence County's unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percentage point, but the county lost 900 jobs in December compared to the same month past year, according preliminary data from the state Department of Labor.
In November, Cayuga County's monthly rate was above the national but below the state level.
The unemployment rate in December was 3.8 percent, down slightly from November's 4.0 percent and lower still from the 4.1 percent unemployment rate of December 2015.
That anomaly stems from the steady increase of the labor force, which rose by about 5,800 workers during the month and has expanded by more than 142,400 workers during the past 12 months.
Employers in the trade, transportation and utilities sector made an estimated 3,600 hires in December, while payrolls in leisure and hospitality grew by 1,300 over the month, according to the estimates, which are adjusted to take seasonal variation into account. Unemployed totals dipped 100 to 1,800.
The state's payroll jobs also saw a gain with financial-based businesses, professional services, education and health services all seeing fairly consistent gains throughout the year.
The U.S. unemployment rate in December was 4.6 percent.
Over the year, nonfarm payroll jobs increased 48,800 with an increase of 43,100 in the private sector and an increase of 5,700 in government.
Not Seasonally Adjusted Substate Data The not seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate estimate of 3.5 percent for December was down from 3.9 percent one year ago.
