Riverside County’s unemployment rate was unchanged last month, with solid gains and minimal losses throughout the regional economy, state officials announced Friday.
The jobless rate in August, based on preliminary estimates, was 4.7 percent — the same as July, according to the California Employment Development Department.
The rate was more than a full percentage point below the year-ago level, when countywide unemployment stood at 5.8 percent.
Roughly 50,900 residents were out of work in August, and 1,080,000 were employed, according to the EDD.
Coachella had the highest unemployment rate countywide at 13.5 percent, followed by the unincorporated community of Cabazon at 12.2 percent and Winchester at 8.2 percent.
The combined unemployment rate for Riverside and San Bernardino counties last month was 4.5 percent, down from 4.6 percent in July.
Bi-county data indicated payrolls expanded the most in the public sector, which added 3,800 positions, mainly in education, as teachers and support staff from grade schools returned from summer hiatus.
The construction, financial services, health services, professional services, retail trade, financial and hospitality sectors, along with miscellaneous unclassified industries, altogether added 9,700 jobs, according to the EDD.
The agricultural and information technology sectors, however, reduced payrolls by a combined 2,900.
The EDD said that the state’s non-seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in August was 4.3 percent.