SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — California ended 2023 with an unemployment rate of 5.1% — a 1% increase from a year ago.
The unemployment rate has been slowly rising over the past few months. It rose 0.1% from September to October, and by the same amount from October to November. It grew by 0.2% from November to December, according to a Friday announcement by the state’s Employment Development Department.
There were 983,000 unemployed Californians in December — a rise of 29,200 from the previous month and an increase of 192,700 from December 2022.
During a sample week in December, 376,872 people certified for unemployment benefits. That’s compared to 323,975 people in November and 326,252 people in December 2022.
The state processed 48,550 initial claims during the December sample week — an increase of 10,956 claims from November and an increase of 7,000 from December 2022.
The county with the highest unemployment rate in December remained Imperial at 18.3%. The second highest was Colusa County at 16.2%. Tulare County came in third at 11.2%.
San Mateo County still had the lowest unemployment rate — 3.2% — followed by San Francisco County at 3.5% and San Luis Obispo County at 3.6%.
The state had 18,373,900 employed residents in December, a drop of 32,700 from November and a decrease of 108,200 from December 2022.
December saw a gain of 23,400 non-farm jobs from the month before, bringing the new total to 18,180,700. From December 2022 to December 2023, the state saw 311,000 more non-farm jobs — a 1.7% increase. Nationwide, non-farm job growth saw the same 1.7% growth.
Farm jobs climbed by 3,000 in December, bringing the total to 445,900. There were 9,100 more farm jobs in December than in December 2022.
Of the state’s 11 industry sectors, six gained jobs in December.
Private education and health services had the most with 13,200 jobs. That’s attributed to better-than-average gains in nursing case facilities and individual and family services.
The government sector grew by 8,100 jobs in December, with growth in city government and special districts. California has now seen seven consecutive months of job growth in this sector.
The leisure and hospitality sector had 7,100 new jobs in December, due to the accommodation, limited-service restaurants and other eating places groups.
The loss of 3,800 jobs in the professional and business services was mainly because of reductions in employment services.
Unemployment was listed last month by state analysts as one of the factors in California’s $68 billion budget deficit. Other factors included the state’s economy slowing down and sales tax revenue flattening.
The analysts’ deficit prediction came about a month before Governor Gavin Newsom revealed his budget on Jan. 10. Newsom believes he can get the deficit down to $37.8 billion by drawing from reserves, reducing spending, and delaying and deferring some expenditures.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office responded by calling his revenue predictions “optimistic.”
Critics of the governor pointed to the report, noting state revenue must exceed Newsom’s predictions by $50 billion a year to pay for the proposed spending.
Also, Newsom’s budget calls for reducing school and community college spending, which he says wouldn’t impact their budgets. Analysts note that Newsom hasn’t explained how his reductions would save $8 billion.
The next state unemployment report is scheduled for release in March.
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