The unemployment rate in Stanislaus County slightly rose in July, while Merced County’s marginally improved over that same period, according to the latest preliminary data provided by the State of California Employment Development Department (EDD).
Stanislaus County’s unemployment rate was 7.7% in July, an increase of one-tenth of a percentage point, which translates to roughly 300 more people without jobs in June. In Merced County, the rate went from 10.5% in June to 10.3% in July, an estimated decrease of 100 people without work.
Each county experienced significant growth within the manufacturing industry, with Stanislaus adding 700 jobs and Merced another 300.
Taking a chunk out of those manufacturing gains in Stanislaus County were the farming and government sectors. There was a decrease of 100 farming jobs in July, while the state and local government lost 1,200 workers.
Quite the opposite played out in Merced County, who added 800 local government jobs, which includes those in education, coinciding with the preparation for the new school year. There were also 200 jobs added in the private education and health services sector. Nevertheless, local government positions excluding those in education decreased by 300.
Meanwhile, the state unemployment rate increased to 6.1% in July, up by 0.4% in a month’s time.
Comparatively, it was announced at the beginning of August that the national unemployment rate rose for the second straight month in July. The Department of Labor reported that employers added just 73,000 jobs last month, with the preliminary national unemployment rate rising to 4.6% — up from 4.4% in June.
On top of that, revisions to preliminary statistics shaved a whopping 258,000 jobs off the May and June data, which snowballed into a controversy in which President Donald Trump alleged that the figures were manipulated for political reasons. Bureau of Labor Statistics head Erika McEntarfer, nominated by President Joe Biden in 2023 and who served in the role since early 2024, was then fired on Aug. 2.
The EDD’s data released on Friday comes four days after Trump nominated E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, to head the agency.
The most in-demand job positions across California are registered nurses, with there being 20,630 online job postings as of Friday night. The second are retail salespersons, with job postings at 18,247.
The top employment sector in Stanislaus County is health care and social assistance, with there being 1,418 job listings. The retail industry is looking to fill 919 positions in the county, while the manufacturing industry has 512 openings.
Over in Merced County, private educational services lead the way with 428 job postings. The health care and social assistance sector is second with 374 openings, while the retail industry is looking to fill 353 positions.
Those on the hunt for a job can find resources at www.edd.ca.gov/en/jobs.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
