S.D. Unemployment Rate Declines to 6% in April

SAN DIEGO â€”  San Diego County’s unemployment rate during April was 6.0%, down slightly from the 6.3% over the previous month but significantly above the 3.9% jobless rate a year ago.

Jack Nowell, labor market analyst for the state Employment Development Department, discounted the importance of the month-to-month decline in joblessness, saying that April and May are traditionally strong hiring months in San Diego.

Nowell noted that total countywide employment continues to decline after a decade during which the number of jobs in San Diego County increased 3% to 4% annually some years.

In April, non-agricultural jobs totaled 992,200 in San Diego County, down 2,500 from the 994,700 jobholders in April, 1990. The county’s worker rolls set a record in June, 1990, with 1,002,200 jobs, Nowell said.

San Diego’s jobless rate was still lower than the state’s unemployment level, which has been accelerating, Nowell said. Unemployment in California reached 7.4% of the work force in April, down from 7.7% in March, but up from 5.3% in April, 1990.

The local joblessness is also less severe than the U.S. rate overall, which last month was 6.5%, up from 5.2% in April, 1990.

Among local job sectors, construction employment in April totaled 57,500, a drop of 5,000 jobs from the 62,500 workers employed in San Diego County construction in April, 1990.