The start of the new year only brought more joblessness to Stanislaus County, according to new preliminary data provided by the State of California Employment Development Department (EDD). 

In January, the unemployment rate in Stanislaus County rose from 6.9 percent in December to 7.6 percent — translating to roughly 18,900 people without work. 

The statistics come as the state reported a 5.7 percent unemployment rate in January and the nation had a 4.1 percent rate.

In Stanislaus County, every single industry saw job losses with the exception of the local government sector (400 hires) and the health care and social assistance sector (200 hires). The biggest job loss came within the farming industry with 1,100 jobs let go, mainly due in part to the colder and wetter climate. Not too far behind was the retail industry, which let go of roughly 1,000 workers in the aftermath of the holiday shopping season; 500 employees were also lost in the leisure and hospitality industry.

Ceres recorded an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent in January, or approximately 1,900 without work. The same number was without work in Turlock, which is larger and thus has a percentage of 5.6 percent out of work.

There were 400 unemployed individuals in Hughson, which had a 10.8 percent unemployment rate in January.

Keyes had approximately 100 folks, or 5.1 percent without jobs in January.

The worst jobless rate is among those living in the Bystrum area just outside of Ceres which had 14.3 percent of residents who were idle.

The most in-demand jobs across Stanislaus County remain in the health care and social assistance sector. There are currently 1,226 openings in the industry. Of those jobs, registered nurses were most in need of filling with 371 online job postings in Stanislaus County.