BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Kern County's unemployment rate is the lowest it's been since December of 2018 and the local economy has added 7,000 jobs compared to the same point last year.
The Kern County Employment Development Department released its monthly unemployment report Friday, revealing that the unemployment rate in May was down to 7.2%. It's the second consecutive month the rate as dropped, down from 8.4% in April.
A year ago the unemployment rate was at 7.6%.
The report showed 338,200 people were employed in Kern County in May, up by 8,000 from April.
Most of the gains were made in Educational & Health Services where 2,300 jobs were added over the last year.
Despite the improvement, Kern County's unemployment rate ranks 54th in the state out of 57 counties. San Mateo's rate of 1.7% leads the state.
California's unemployment rate in May was 3.5%, just above the national average of 3.4%
Kern County's unemployment rate bottomed out at 6.5% for three straight months last year from September to November before jumping to 10% in March of this year.
