Modest summer job gains in Fresno region not enough to erase COVID-19 damage to employment
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck California and the central San Joaquin Valley, it triggered stay-at-home orders and a large-scale closure of some business sectors as a means to slow the spread of the virus.
The result was the hemorrhaging loss of jobs for more than 87,000 workers in the Valley in March and April. That included employees in the leisure and hospitality industries as pleasure travel was curtailed and many bars, dine-in restaurants and retailers were closed.
Since April, many industry sectors have regained at least some of the jobs that were lost to the coronavirus measures. But new unemployment figures for July, released Friday by the California Employment Development Department show that a few – including state and local government – are still seeing job leakage as the region and the state continue to come to terms with the economic effects of the virus.
The number of people employed in July across the Valley is still about 67,300 lower than it was in pre-pandemic February.
Compared to June, unemployment rates for counties across the Valley were down last month by about a full percentage point – a little more in some counties, a little less in others. But all are far higher than in February, before the pandemic:
Fresno County: 13.5% unemployment in July, down from 14.5% in June but up from 8.5% in February.
Kings County: 13.1% unemployment in July, down from 14.4% in June, up from 9.8% in February.
Madera County: 13.0% unemployment in July, down from 13.9% in June, up from 8.0% in February.
Merced County: 14.5% unemployment in July, down from 15.6% in June, up from 10.4% in February.
Tulare County: 16.2% unemployment in July, down from 17.1% in June, up from 11.5% in February.
Still feeling the pain
In Fresno County, the leisure/hospitality industry, which covers restaurants, bars, hotels and motels, and other amusement and recreational businesses, shed almost 16,000 jobs in March and April, according to the state EDD.
Since April, the sector has regained about 5,900 positions by July. But there’s almost 10,000 jobs that have yet to return.
Retail stores in Fresno County lost about 6,600 jobs in March and April, but have regained about 1,800 jobs. Private-sector education and health services have regained only about 500 of the 3,900 jobs that disappeared.
The wholesale trade and information sectors have made no gains, according to the EDD estimates, while the financial activities industry – which includes insurance and real estate businesses – have lost about 300 jobs since April, in addition to the 200 jobs that were shed between February and April.
Local government in Fresno County – which includes city and counties, school districts and other public agencies – continues to see significant job losses as a whole. In addition to about 1,500 positions that evaporated in March and April, another 5,500 jobs were lost over May, June and July.
The only sector that has experienced a net job gain since the pandemic struck is agriculture, where farmworkers deemed “essential” to the food supply and the economy have continued their work unabated in fields, orchards and vineyards and farms throughout the Valley.
In Fresno County, about 4,400 farm jobs were added between February and April; since April, the sector has added another 7,900 jobs, the EDD reported.
