County Jobless Rate Rises a Few Ticks to 9.3 Percent in January

San Diego County's unemployment rate edged up to 9.3 percent in January from 9 percent the previous month, but was well below the 10.5 percent rate of January 2011, the state reported Friday.

The monthly unemployment increase was the first locally since the middle of last year, said the Employment Development Department.

The statewide and nationwide unemployment rates were 11.3 percent and 8.8 percent in January, respectively. Those numbers were also higher than the
previous month.

Jobless rates in Patch communities (and the estimated number of unemployed residents) were:

• Carlsbad: 6.2 percent (3,000)
• Casa de Oro-Mount Helix: 8.8 percent (1,000)
• Encinitas: 6.6 percent (2,600)
• Imperial Beach: 14.9 percent (2,100)
• La Mesa: 7.8 percent (2,700)
• Lemon Grove: 11.6 percent (1,600)
• Poway: 5.5 percent (1,600)
• Ramona: 8.6 percent (800)
• Santee: 7.8 percent (2,600)
• Spring Valley: 10.8 percent (1,700)

San Diego—with Patch sites in La Jolla and Rancho Bernardo—had a January jobless rate of 9.3 percent, with 65,800 out of a workforce of 708,100, said the EDD.

San Diego County has 22,500 fewer non-farm jobs in January than the month before, with the biggest losses in retail trade at the end of the holiday season; education and health services; and construction, according to the EDD.

No major sectors gained positions.

San Diego County had 147,500 people unemployed in January out of a total workforce of nearly 1.6 million.

City News Service contributed to this report.