Thursday, March 05, 2009

Record High: Sacramento Unemployment Reaches Double-Digits



From the Employment Development Department [pdf]:

The unemployment rate in the Sacramento-Arden Arcade-Roseville MSA was 10.4 percent in January 2009, up from a revised 8.8 percent in December 2008, and above the year-ago estimate of 6.4 percent...The unemployment rate was 10.6 percent in El Dorado County, 9.6 percent in Placer County, 10.4 percent in Sacramento County, and 11.6 percent in Yolo County.
...
Between December 2008 and January 2009, the total number of wage and salary jobs fell from 874,900 to 855,200, a loss of 19,700 jobs...Between January 2008 and January 2009, job losses in the region totaled 35,200 jobs, or 4.0 percent.
The unemployment rate now exceeds the 90s recession, according to the Sacramento Bee:
Technically, the new rate wipes out the old record of 9.3 percent in February 1993. Local unemployment statistics aren't kept farther back than 1990 because of big changes in how the rates are calculated. It's likely that things were actually worse in the 1982 recession, said economist Jeff Michael of the University of the Pacific. But he believes the current downturn will equal or exceed the '82 slump in terms of unemployment.
The Bee's article from 2006 is looking pretty silly isn't it?

Related post: 'Piece of Cake' Housing Downturn Exceeds 90s 'Depression'

2 comments:

Diggin Deeper said...

Sacramneto is just following the trend.

Unemployment figure for the US out this morning and it's pretty grim. Unemployment rate up to 8.1%, another 650K go down in February, and revised figures for Dec and January post an additional 200K+. Last 4 months have seen 2.5+ in losses with annual losses now pushing over 4 million.

Banks are being asked to lend, but risk levels with this kind of job picture, won't help in freeing up lending.

2cents said...

Thanks for that, Lander. Just love reading those old news stories. It puts today's news and economic forecasts in an entirely different light. Like this one from your old post:

"We have two, if not four, slow quarters ahead, then we'll start to see some improvements in the market," Schleimer said.

You can find a statement like that from some so-called expert every single day in the paper.