How to resolve AdBlock issue? The California Employment Development Department’s latest jobless report said Lake County had a 6.8% rate in April, down from 7.3% in March. The April 2024 rate was 6.5%.
On the state level, unemployment remained unchanged at 5.3%, the Employment Development Department said.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks the national unemployment picture, said unemployment remained at 4.2% in April, the same rate as reported in March.
In Lake County, industries and employment sectors that showed growth in April included the federal government, 7.1%; mining, logging and construction, 6.3%; leisure and hospitality, 3.5%; financial activities, 2.9%; and other services.
Sectors showing the most decline over the month were total farm, down 21.3%, durable goods, -14.3%; and manufacturing, -3%. The total farm category also is down 30% from where it was a year ago.
Lake County’s jobless rate ranked it No. 44 out of California’s 58 counties, tying it with neighboring Glenn County.
Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks last month were: Colusa, 14.2%, No. 57; Glenn, 6.8%, No. 44; Mendocino, 5.5%, No. 29; Napa, 3.8%, No. 6; Sonoma, 4%, No. 10; and Yolo, 5.2%, No. 27.
Statewide, payroll jobs rose from 17,982,400 in March 2025 to 18,000,100 in April, the Employment Development Department said.
The number of Californians employed in April was 18,699,200, an increase of 39,300 persons from March’s total of 18,659,900 and up 118,700 from the employment total in April 2024. At the same time, the Employment Development Department said the number of unemployed Californians was 1,055,000 in April, an increase of 400 over the month, and up 41,800 in comparison to April 2024.
Since April 2024, California’s unemployment rate has increased by 0.1 percent, compared to the national unemployment rate, which has increased by 0.3 percent over the same period, according to the report.
In the five years since the state started rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, the Employment Development Department said California has gained 3,080,300 jobs, an average of 51,338 per month.
Five of California's 11 industry sectors gained jobs in April, with private education and health services (+9,400) posting a gain for the 39th straight month, the state reported.
The largest gains in health care and social assistance (+8,100) subsectors include job increases in fields like nursing, partly due to California’s aging population, which has driven more demand for medical services, the Employment Development Department said.
Government (+4,500) also posted a month-over job gain with the largest increase coming from Local Government (+3,400). State government (+1,300) also increased, while Federal Government (-200) lost jobs in April, based on the report.
Professional and business services (-2,400) posted the state’s largest month-over loss with the majority of the losses coming from employment services, which typically represents a slowdown in the hiring of temporary workers.
The Employment Development Department said the number of jobs in the agriculture industry decreased from March by 10,800 to a total of 414,300 jobs in April. The agriculture industry had 4,900 more farm jobs in April 2025 than it did in April of last year.
In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, the Employment Development Department said there were 402,004 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the April 2025 sample week.
That compares to 424,213 people in March and 411,413 people in April 2024. Concurrently, 42,222 initial claims were processed in the April 2025 sample week, which was a month-over increase of 1,229 claims from March and a year-over decrease of 2,914 claims from April 2024.
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