Fewer People Seek Work in Santa Cruz County in August

Unemployment fell in Santa Cruz County in August, marking the fourth-straight month when the county's jobless rate has been below 10 percent. 
The county's unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in August, down from a revised 8.3 percent in July and below the year-ago estimate of 9.8 percent. 

However, the county lost 4,800 jobs in August. The decline in unemployment actually was due to a smaller workforce, not job creation. The county's labor force was 155,700 strong last month, down from 158,700 in July, according to figures released Friday by the state Employment Development Department. 


Job losses in the county were reported across a multitude of sectors including farming, tourism, education, government and finance. Some of the declines are seasonal. Also, no jobs were gained in August.

The highest levels of unemployment continue to be in South County: 14.5 percent in Freedom, 14.6 percent in Amesti, and 17.2 percent in both the city of Watsonville and Interlaken. A large portion of the jobs there come from seasonal farm labor positions. 

The Corralitos and Aptos areas reported little unemployment and Scotts Valley had the lowest unemployment rate of any city in the county, at 3.7 percent.

The jobless rate in the city of Santa Cruz was 6.6 percent. It was 4.4 percent in Capitola and 6 percent in Soquel.

Overall, Santa Cruz County's jobless rate was slightly better than the state's, which is 8.8 percent, but was worse than the national average of 7.3 percent in August.

None of the figures have been seasonally adjusted.