California Unemployment Increased to 12.2% in August (includes look at 20 largest cities) (Fresno: credit, unemployment rate)

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by FresnoFacts

I was surprised to see that Fresno is doing slightly better than Los Angeles, Sacramento, Long Beach and some others and is only slightly higher than San Jose. I don't think that has happened in decades.

To see Bakersfield having a rate the same as San Francisco and slightly lower than San Diego is also a surprise.

It's harvest season

[bayarea-girl]

Fresnofacts, as many have mentioned in other threads relating to the economy the unemployment rate is much higher than what is being reported. I don't think people who ran out of unemployment are still being counted (isn't unemployment only for 6 months). What is happening to those people? Wonder if they are moving out of state?

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

It's harvest season

Used to make a big difference in Fresno years ago but not now.

The city of Fresno is less reliant on ag jobs then it used to be. Some of the smaller towns in the county still feel the large swings in seasonal employment due to ag (with or without drought), but not Fresno or Clovis or some of the other cities.

Unemployment in the city of Fresno only dropped from 14% in July to 13.7% in August this year. Last year saw about the same level of change going from 9.4% in July 2008 down to 9% in August 2008.

Even without the little bit of ag seasonal hiring, Fresno would still be lower than Sacramento.

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

Fresnofacts, as many have mentioned in other threads relating to the economy the unemployment rate is much higher than what is being reported. I don't think people who ran out of unemployment are still being counted (isn't unemployment only for 6 months). What is happening to those people? Wonder if they are moving out of state?

I thought there is now extended benefits beyond 6 months but people still fall out of the unemployment rate numbers at some point if they don't have a job or benefits. Those people simply don't show in the number no matter what they do even if they stay in a state.

So you will also see the job force size numbers increase as the economy improves as people no longer counted find jobs. Right now the numbers also show the job force shrinking.

The opposite of that issue is that there is no way to ever get to 0% unemployment since some people will always be in transition between jobs for various reasons.

[jbunniii]

Originally Posted by FresnoFacts

Used to make a big difference in Fresno years ago but not now.

Check out the strong seasonal fluctuation in Fresno's unemployment vs. say Los Angeles':

Google - public data

[jc76]

THANKS CHARLES!!!
Google - public data

[roosevelt]

These seem to be government issued statistics; the people who run the government may influence the employment numbers; I do not trust them to give an accurate picture, especially in these times of one party political activism. I would suspect the numbers are actually much higher.

[bayarea-girl]

I think the unemployment numbers are much HIGHER than reported also. In my field one could EASILY find a job. There use to be pages and pages of job announcements daily and now a handful of postings. It reminds me of the dot.com crash except the recovery is longer.

I also don't trust the published numbers about housing picking up why would I trust the employment numbers? We clearly are not out of the woods yet. It is frightening to think about how bad it really can get. Not trying to be doom and gloom, just hope people are saving their money and making plan A, B, C, & D. My husband's job is a very stressful environment and people quit all the time at his company. I can't get over it, I guess they are thinking they can easily find a job as if we aren't in a recession and they can't get unemployment because they quit. Just can't get over people quitting jobs in these times without another job lined up?

[mommabear2]

Only 12.2%? Well now, maybe we need to raise taxes and squeeze the businesses/corporations that are still above water... just to finish us off (kidding of course).

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by jbunniii

Check out the strong seasonal fluctuation in Fresno's unemployment vs. say Los Angeles':

Google - public data

Thanks but just FYI that is a county wide chart, I am talking about within the city of Fresno itself.

But if you look close you see the chart does show my point even on a county wide basis. The reliance on seasonal ag work has dropped in the region.

Per that chart, the fluctuations in Fresno County were much wider during the 1990s, as much as 6 to 7% from high to low employment in the same year.

More recently the swings have become much smaller within each year, more like 3 or 3.5% swings the last 5 years. That is because job growth has been outside of ag related seasonal work.

The economic base has been diversifying much more in the region, particularly in the larger cities.