April brought in some welcome news for Stanislaus County as the unemployment level took a significant dip for the month, according to the latest report from the Employment Development Department.

The unemployment rate in April for Stanislaus County came in at 12.3 percent, down from a revised March rate of 13.5 percent and below the year-ago estimate of 13.4 percent.

The labor force in Stanislaus County was estimated at 233,900 for April with approximately 28,700 unemployed individuals, according to the EDD.

The drop in unemployment was largely spurred by increased hirings in the farming, manufacturing, construction and hospitality sectors. All four sectors added an estimated 300 new positions each in April the EDD reported.
The retail sector also added an estimated 200 positions for the month.

While several sectors reported job growth for the month, some of them are down in overall jobs for the year, including farming, construction, manufacturing, information, and financial activities.

For Merced County the unemployment rate also saw a substantial drop, going from 16.3 percent in March to 14.3 percent in April. In San Joaquin County the unemployment fell from 13.1 percent in March to 11.7 percent in April.

California's unemployment rate came in at 7.3 percent for the month and the nation's was at 5.9 percent for the same time period.

Ceres saw its jobless rate decrease from 16.9 percent to 15.4 percent.

Hughson saw a decrease from 17.7 percent to 16.1 percent, as did Keyes, which saw the unemployment fall from 23.8 percent in March to 21.8 percent in April.

Turlock saw its unemployment rate fall from 10.3 percent in March to 9.3 percent in April. Denair's rate dropped from 7.4 percent to 6.7 percent in April.

The jobs and professions having the most help wanted ads in Stanislaus County for April were: Registered Nurses - 467; Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers - 257; Physical Therapists - 144; Retail Salespersons - 139; Customer Service Representatives - 138; First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers - 118; Medical and Health Service Managers - 105; Critical Care Nurses - 102; Insurance Sales Agents - 97; and Occupational Therapists - 91.

The 10 companies that posted the most help wanted ads for March in Stanislaus County were: TruStaff - 122; Supplemental Health Care - 111; Soliant - 92; Tenet Healthcare Corporation - 86; Ceres Unified School District - 68; Shomax - 67; Sutter Health - 56; Newman-Crows Landing Unified - 51; California State University System - 46; and Kaiser Permanente - 38.