Unemployment tops 76,000 in Fresno County as coronavirus takes toll on jobs
More than 76,000 people were out of work in April in Fresno County – a level of joblessness not seen in nearly a decade as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the central San Joaquin Valley.
The unemployment rate in Fresno County was estimated at 15.5% in figures released Friday morning by the California Employment Development Department. That’s up from 11% in March, in the early stages of stay-at-home and business-closure orders aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.
“We went from record low unemployment to the highest monthly figure in years,” said Steven Gutierrez, a labor market analyst with the EDD’s Fresno office. “These estimates are starting to show the record-setting flood of layoffs unleashed by the viral outbreak.”
Since February, before the first coronavirus cases appeared in the central San Joaquin Valley, both the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed in Fresno County have nearly doubled. February’s unemployment rate in Fresno County was 8.5% and the number of unemployed estimated at 38,500.
Similar effects were reported in neighboring Valley counties in April:
Kings County: 9,800 people unemployed, rate of 16.8%.
Madera County: 10,500 people unemployed, rate of 16.6%.
Merced County: 21,800 people unemployed, rate of 18.8%.
Tulare County: 38,100 people unemployed, rate of 19%.
Across the region, the total number of people officially counted as out of work rose from just under 85,000 in February to almost 157,000 in April – an increase of almost 85% in two months.
Statewide, the unemployment rate in California was estimated at 16.1%. It was 4.3% in February.
Where it hurts most
In Fresno, the heaviest toll was felt in the leisure/hospitality sector of businesses, including all facets of restaurants and other dining establishments, bars, hotels/motels, as well as movie theaters and entertainment venues which have been closed for two months. Collectively, about 11,300 jobs were lost among those businesses between February and April, the EDD data show.
Also hit were retail stores, many of which were forced by state and local orders to close. While some of those businesses are starting to get the green light to reopen, the sector lost an estimated 2,800 jobs between February and April.
“These are the non-essential merchants and traditional malls that had to shut down or severely cut their operations,” Gutierrez said.
Food and beverage stores and general merchandise stores, many of which remained open but with social distancing conditions imposed, lost about 300 jobs combined. But another 2,500 jobs dissipated among other retailers, including specialty stores.
Private-sector education and health services lost about 3,200 positions. “That includes medical and dental clinics that reduced their staff because elective and non-essential procedures were postponed or canceled,” Gutierrez said.
“Really, no industry was immune from the effects of this outbreak,” he added.
Agriculture boost
Fresno County’s unemployment rate would have climbed even higher if not for a surge in agriculture jobs last month. “That’s what kind of saved us, because we have this big influx of seasonal farm jobs that come into play this time of year,” Gutierrez said. “I was surprised that we were ‘only’ at 16.7%, but a lot of that has to do with how large the agriculture economy is here.”
Agriculture gained 4,400 jobs between February and April in Fresno County, while all other private-sector industries lost 29,000.
The EDD estimates are based on surveys of employers across the state conducted during the second week of the month, and represent a snapshot of the employment picture at that time. The official unemployment rate does not account for what labor experts call “discouraged workers” – people who have given up a search for a job and dropped out of the labor force. Nor does the labor force include students, retirees or others who are neither available nor looking for work.
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 10:16 AM.
