Jobless Figures Released For Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, RivCo

LAKE ELSINORE-WILDOMAR, CA — The April jobless report was expected to be ugly amid the coronavirus shutdown. Figures released Friday show it is.

The unadjusted unemployment rate across Inland Empire cities and unincorporated areas jumped to 14.4 percent in April 2020, up from a revised 5.2 percent in March 2020, and well above the year-ago estimate of 3.6 percent, according to the figures released by the State of California Employment Development Department.

This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 16.1 percent for California and 14.4 percent for the nation during the same period. The unemployment rate was 15.3 percent in Riverside County, and 13.4 percent in San Bernardino County, the figures show.

In Lake Elsinore, April's unadjusted jobless rate was 15.9 percent; in Wildomar, it was 15.2%. Both cities saw an increase of more than 10 percent over March's figures.

Between March 2020 and April 2020, total nonfarm employment declined from 1,536,900 to 1,388,900, a loss of 148,000 jobs in the Riverside County-San Bernardino County region. Agricultural employment decreased by 300 jobs. Here is a synopsis for the region during the time period:

• Leisure and hospitality (down 53,800) recorded the largest payroll loss over the month. Accommodation and food services (down 50,000), accounted for approximately 93 percent of the job loss. Within accommodation and food services, food services and drinking places (down 45,300), recorded the largest employment decrease. Arts, entertainment, and recreation declined by 3,800 jobs over the month.
• Trade, transportation, and utilities (down 23,400) registered the second largest job decline over the month. Retail trade jobs decreased by 16,300, with the majority of the job loss concentrated in clothing and clothing accessories stores (down 10,700). Transportation, warehousing, and utilities logged losses totaling 4,600, followed by wholesale trade with a drop of 2,500 jobs.
• Educational and health services registered job losses amounting to 15,300. The total number of jobs in healthcare and social assistance receded by 14,700, with the majority of the loss allocated in ambulatory health care services (down 8,400). Private educational services decreased by 600 jobs.
• Construction (down 13,700), professional and business services (down 13,500), government (down 10,400), other services (down 10,100), manufacturing (down 5,100), financial activities (down 2,400), information (down 200), and mining and logging (down 100) posted job losses over the month.

Between April 2019 and April 2020, nonfarm employment decreased by 148,800 jobs (down 9.7
percent) in the regions. Agricultural employment declined by 1,900 jobs (down 12.6 percent). Here is the synopsis for the region during that period:

• Leisure and hospitality (down 63,500), registered the largest employment decrease over the year. Most of the employment reduction was concentrated in accommodation and food services (down 58,000). Both food services and drinking places (down 52,500), and accommodation (down 5,500) logged job losses over the year. Arts, entertainment, and recreation contracted by 5,500 jobs.
• Professional and business services reported 16,300 layoffs. Administrative and support and waste services (down 9,700), professional, scientific, and technical services (down 6,300), and management of companies and enterprises (down 300) recorded payroll cuts over the year.
• Year-over job losses were noted in construction (down 14,900), other services (down 12,900), trade, transportation, and utilities (down 11,600), government (down 11,100), manufacturing (down 8,600), educational and health services (down 6,400), financial activities (down 2,700), information (down 700), and mining and logging (down 100).