SD County unemployment rose to 15% in April, new data shows

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - San Diego County's unadjusted unemployment rose in April to a record 15%, according to data released today by the California Economic Development Department.

Of the county's 1.54 million people in the workforce, 231,300 were unemployed in April, according to the report. The unemployment rate in March was just 4.1%.

Following the release of the state's employment data from April Acting Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development Chris Dombrowski issued a joint statement with California's Labor Secretary, Julie A. Su.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our lives. We have gone from a record-low unemployment rate to a record high. As Governor Newsom has said, this is our collective sobering reality, and without additional assistance from the federal government, the very programs that will help people get back to their lives and get back to work, will continue to be impacted," they said in the statement.

"California's core character is unchanged: We are innovators at heart, and so are our economy and workforce. Employers, workers and customers will all need to play a role in ensuring that we can put Californians back to work safely. We will continue to work together to safely reopen our economy, which requires that employers create a site-specific plan to ensure worker and

public safety," they said.

Non-farm industries in the San Diego-Carlsbad region lost an estimated 195,000 jobs from 1,494,000 in March to 1,299,000 in April, a 13.3% decrease.

Before April's results, the county's unemployment rate hovered around 4% for six straight months.

The leisure and hospitality industry was hardest hit, losing 96,200 jobs, or 51.9% of March's numbers, while ``other services'' suffered

significantly as well in April, losing 14,500 jobs or 30.6% of all jobs in that industry, according to the EDD.

The trade, transportation and utilities industry lost 27,500 jobs, going from 218,800 jobs to 191,300 over the month, while education and health services lost 22,000 and manufacturing lost 5,900.

Professional and business services jobs dropped by 15,700, government obs by 6,600, construction by 4,700, financial activities by 1,500 and information by 600.

Statewide unemployment increased to 16.1% from March to April. Neighboring Orange County was doing better than the state average, with 13.8% unemployment, while Imperial County marked 28%, Riverside County 15.3% and Los Angeles County 20.3%.

Non-farm payroll employment decreased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in April 2020. The largest job declines occurred in

California, with 2.34 million jobs lost.

Nationwide, unemployment sat at an adjusted 14.7% in April, up 10.3% over March and 11.1% over April 2019. Nevada has the nation's highest rate of unemployment, with 28.3% across the state out of work.