More people working than ever in Fresno, but unemployment is up. What’s really happening?
The annual average unemployment rates in Fresno County and the central San Joaquin Valley ticked upward in 2024 for the second consecutive year after dipping to three-decade lows in 2022 as the region emerged from the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, more people were working last year across the Valley than at any time since 1990 — a mathematical reflection of population growth and an expanded workforce available for jobs in Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties.
Within the five-county region, only Fresno County experienced a decline in the annual average number of people working, according to estimates from the California Employment Development Department through December.
Unemployment rates fluctuate from month to month based on factors including seasonal needs in certain industries including agriculture, food processing and retail. But averaged out over the full year, unemployment rates in Valley counties for 2024 were:
- Fresno County: 8.1%, compared to 7.5% in 2023 and a 35-year low of 6.5% in 2022. The historic high was 17.1% in 2010, at the peak of the Great Recession.
- Kings County: 8.7%, compared to 8.2% in 2023 and a 35-year low of 7.9% in 2018.
- Madera County: 7.8%, compared to 7.5% in 2023 and a 35-year low of 6.2% in 2019.
- Merced County: 9.7%, compared to 9% in 2023 and a 35-year low of 7.8%.
- Tulare County: 10.5%, compared to 10% in 2023, a 35-year low of 8.3% in 2022.
The unemployment rate is based on estimates of the percentage of the available workforce who are available and willing to work but do not have jobs. It does not include people who are not seeking work, including students or retirees, or “discouraged workers” who have given up their search for a job.
Fresno County, the most populous county in the region, also had the largest number of people who want to work but don’t have jobs. In 2024, monthly unemployment averaged about 37,250 people. Almost 23,000 people were out of work in Tulare County, followed by about 11,700 in Merced County, 5,200 in Madera County and about 5,140 in Kings County.
Those numbers pale in comparison to previous high-water marks in the region, most notably from 2009 to 2011 during the Great Recession — when as many as 152,000 people were out of work across the five counties, overshadowing even the economic havoc during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Agriculture, for decades the backbone of the Valley’s economy and employment, continues to represent a significant chunk of the region’s jobs in 2024. Total farm employment totaled an average of more than 110,000 jobs in the region, or about 13.6% of all jobs reported by employers in the five counties.
Tulare County led the region with more than 37,600 jobs, followed by Fresno County at about 36,650, Merced County at about 14,160, Madera County at about 13,740, and Kings County at about 8,400.
Across all industries, Fresno saw a modest dip in the average number of people working last year, falling by about 1,200 from 2023’s estimated peak of 426,600. But regionally, more people were working in 2024 than any year since 1990 – a monthly average of more than 842,600.
Statewide, California’s labor market “has remained relatively resilient despite slowdowns in a “handful of industries such as manufacturing, tech and entertainment,” according to an analysis by Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles-based research and consulting firm. “However, employment growth in California has trailed the nation in recent years.”
“Since 2020, the start of the pandemic, total nonfarm employment in the state has grown 2.6% compared to a 4.7% increase nationally,” the firm reported. “California increased payrolls by 1% from December 2023 to December 2024, just behind the 1.4% increase nationally over the same period.
California’s statewide unemployment rate was 5.5% in December, compared to 7.9% in Fresno County, 8.4% in Kings County, 7.7% in Madera County, 9.5% in Merced County, and 10.2% in Tulare County.
This story was originally published January 28, 2025 at 2:06 PM.
