WASHINGTON: Placer County was the regional leader in employment in February. The county’s 4.6 percent jobless rate was the lowest among a region that also includes Sacramento County (5.5 percent), Nevada County (5 percent), El Dorado County (5.4 percent) and Yolo County (6.6 percent), according to statistics released Friday by the state Employment Development Department.
Cara Welch, a labor market information analyst, said that that the regional unemployment rate of 5.4 percent represents a drop from 5.5 percent in January and a decrease from February 2016, when the unemployment rate was 6.4 percent.
The leisure and hospitality sector proved the big job gainer in February. “It was the leader with 2,100 jobs created,” Welch said. “That’s a larger-than-average gain. Over the previous 10 years, the average gain in February in that sector was 800 jobs.”
Food services and drinking places accounted for the majority of jobs created within the leisure and hospitality sector, with 2,000 of the new jobs attributed to those two categories, she said. Placer County sector numbers aren’t broken down but statewide, the county is ranked 11th in employment percentage. The county has a labor force of 178,200 people and a total of 8,200 who were counted as jobless in February.
Nevada County is ranked 14th in the state while El Dorado County is 17th. San Mateo County is No. 1 in the state, with a 3 percent jobless rate. Statewide, the unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in February and 5.2 percent for the nation.
