A month after Stanislaus County posted its best numbers of the year for 2023 in terms of unemployment rate, the number of folks without work is once again on the rise, according to preliminary data provided by the State of California Employment Development Department.
The data showed that Stanislaus County’s unemployment rate went from 5.8 percent in September to an even 6 percent in October.
As for state and national numbers, the rates stayed nearly the same at 4.8 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.
The biggest culprits for the job loss in Stanislaus County were the farming and manufacturing industries. In a month’s time, over 400 food manufacturing workers were lost, while there were over 600 workers lost in the farming sector. At the same time, local government education jobs added approximately 1,000 jobs, but they weren’t enough for the unemployment rate to break even.
In terms of specific cities, Ceres had a jobless rate of 6.5 percent, or about 1,400 out of work. Hughson saw an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent, or about 300 without work. Keyes reported 4 percent without jobs, or about 100 people.
The highest unemployment rates were found in south Modesto. In the Bystrum area just outside of Ceres, the jobless rate was at 11.5 percent.
Turlock had about 1,800 folks without work last month for an unemployment rate of 5.3 percent.
The market has an opportunity to rebound in November and December, though, as the holiday season approaches. In Stanislaus County, there are currently 870 job openings in the retail industry.
Stanislaus County also continues to have a high demand for health care workers, especially registered nurses. There are a total of 1,220 job openings in the health care and social assistance sector, with 418 being for nurses. Top employers include Sutter Health (159 openings), Doctors Medical Center (115 openings) and Kaiser Permanente (86 openings).