A nosedive in payrolls across the board pushed the unemployment rate higher throughout the regional economy to start off the year, state officials reported Friday.
The jobless rate in January, based on preliminary estimates, was 4.8 percent, compared to 4.1 percent in December, according to the California Employment Development Department.
The rate was only one-tenth of a percentage point higher than the year-ago level, when countywide unemployment stood at 4.7 percent,
Roughly 53,200 residents were out of work in January, and 1,055,000 were employed, according to the EDD.
The unincorporated community of Cabazon had the highest unemployment rate countywide at 10.7 percent, followed by Coachella at 10.3 percent and the unincorporated community of Highgrove at 8.2 percent.
The combined unemployment rate for Riverside and San Bernardino counties in January was 4.6 percent, up from 3.9 in December.
Bi-county data indicated payrolls plummeted by the widest margin in the retail trade sector, which shed an estimated 18,700 positions, as outlets cut seasonal hires at the end of the holiday shopping period.
The leisure and hospitality industry, along with the professional services, manufacturing, construction, mining and information technology sectors, altogether reduced payrolls by 11,400.
The public and agricultural sectors, in addition to miscellaneous unclassified industries, contracted by 800 jobs.
Only the educational and financial services sectors expanded — by a combined 600 jobs, according to the EDD data.
The tate’s non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in January was 4.8 percent.