Central Valley’s unemployment rate up in November

The biggest statistically significant decrease in the unemployment rate occurred in West Virginia, where joblessness fell by 0.4 percentage points, to 6.5 percent in November.

Though the local jobless figure rose, California’s unemployment rate dipped slightly in November to 5.7 percent.

Colorado saw a net loss of 2,100 nonfarm payroll jobs from October to November, according to figures released Friday by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

The decrease though small, still continues the trend which has marked a drop in the unemployment rate in the state falling 1.5 percent from this year when compared to last year.

The unemployment rates for Grand Island, Lincoln and Omaha have not been seasonally adjusted, so they can not be directly compared with the state unemployment rate. Nationwide, the economy generated a robust 211,000 jobs last month and the US unemployment rate at a 7-year low.

Education and health services and other services experienced the greatest job losses with reductions of 1,400 and 1,600 jobs respectively.

In its November jobs report, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the U.S. preliminary rate for November was 5 percent, also unchanged from the prior month.

Weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell 11,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 271,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Professional and business services led all sectors over the past year with 12,839 new jobs.

Last month’s increase was due to a seasonal drop in farm employment, a decline of 2,200 jobs.

“On the worrisome side, the retail trade lost jobs in November”. “We are less than 25,000 jobs shy of attaining pre-recession employment levels in Alabama”.

“The labor market is probably one of the most encouraging parts of the recovery”, said Kevin Cummins, an economist at RBS Securities Inc.in Stamford, Connecticut. The largest private-sector job gains from October to November were in construction and leisure and hospitality.

Two categories, mining and logging and manufacturing, posted job declines over the year, down 7,200 jobs.