Community Corner

Seasonal Spike Reported in Murrieta Unemployment Rate

The unemployment rate in Murrieta was up in June when Riverside and San Bernardino counties saw a drop in government payrolls, mainly in local education due to the summer recess.

Murrieta's unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in June due to a seasonal dip in public sector payrolls and losses in a number of local industries that pushed the Riverside County unemployment rate back above 10 percent, state officials reported Thursday.

The county's non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in June, based on preliminary estimates, was 10.2 percent, compared with 9.2 percent in May, according to the California Employment Development Department.

The rate was 2.5 percentage points below the level of June 2012, when unemployment stood at 12.7 percent.

Find out what's happening in Murrietawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A 6 percent unemployment rate was reported for Murrieta last month. One year ago in Murrieta, 8.4 percent of the workforce was unemployed.

In neighboring cities, Temecula saw a preliminary jobless rate of 6.9 percent in June; Menifee's was reported at 10.9 percent; Lake Elsinore, 9.9 percent; and Wildomar, 9 percent.

Find out what's happening in Murrietawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to figures, Riverside County's civilian labor force last month numbered 934,500 people, with 95,300 out of work.

The unincorporated community of Cabazon had the highest unemployment rate countywide, at 25.8 percent, followed by Mecca at 20.6 percent and Homeland at 20.2 percent, according to the EDD.

The combined unemployment rate for Riverside and San Bernardino counties in June also was 10.2 percent, up from 9.3 percent the prior month.

Bi-county data indicated a sharp drop in government payrolls last month, mainly in local education, as teachers, aides, cafeteria workers and others employed at schools throughout the region went on summer recess. Almost 3,000 public sector workers were counted as unemployed.

The financial services, health services, construction, manufacturing, leisure and hospitality and uncategorized sectors altogether shed approximately 5,000 positions.

Only three sectors expanded -- farming, retail trade and professional services, which altogether added 4,500 jobs, the largest part of which was in agriculture.

The state's non-seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in June was 8.8 percent, according to the EDD.

Murrieta's rate remains below the national jobless rate of 7.6 percent, which was unchanged from May and 0.6 percentage points lower than in June 2012, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

—City News Service and Maggie Avants contributed to this report.



Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here