Seasonal Farm Jobs Help Reduce the May 2006 Unemployment Rates

With farm jobs coming in, Merced, Stockton, Fresno, Modesto, and Napa were able to reduce their May 2006 unemployment rates considerably by at least 0.7 percentage points.  Merced posted the largest reduction of 1.7 percentage points.  For a comparison, the state was able to reduce only by 0.2 percentage points.  However, due to this year’s unusually wet spring, total farm jobs in those counties have actually declined from last year, which in turn could result in a lower agricultural production in 2006.

On the other hand, as the summer starts, construction industries in all 11 selected urban regions, as well as the state, have picked up, posting even stronger job growth than services industries in general.  Moreover, the May 2006 total construction jobs have actually gone up from last year (except in Vallejo), suggesting that despite all the current evidence of slowing the housing market is holding up well, possibly better than we thought.

Graph of the Week, June 19, 2006, Business Forecasting Center, University of the Pacific