The unemployment rate in Del Norte County in 2018 and 2019 was the lowest the county has seen in more than 30 years. And it’s been receding significantly in the last seven years, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Economic Data. “When I started at the Workforce Center (in 2007), during that time to maybe 2009 to 2010, that's when we saw a large percentage of unemployment. Slowly, it’s going down to a little over 5%, which is the lowest I've ever seen in Del Norte,” said Christy Hernandez, who manages the Del Norte Workforce Center. #placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');Statistics from the Employment Development Department of California show that unemployment so far this year for Del Norte County is 5.7%, 0.4% higher than in 2018. These percentages are higher than for the state of California as a whole (4.4%) and the national rates (4%) - but they’ve dramatically decreased from 10 years ago (13.2%) and even from 30 years ago (12.1%). The unemployment rate in 2019 is slightly higher than in 2018 most likely because the county has a high number of seasonal positions, said workforce officials. Not all of them may have been taken into account yet, according to Randall Weaver, labor market consultant with the Employment Development Department of California. Additionally, given such a small population, small numbers can make percentages look higher, he said. “Like for mining, logging and constructions in August of 2018, there were 200 people employed, and in 2019 there were 240. The percentages look really great, (until) you actually see the (amount of) jobs.” Thirty years ago, the unemployment rates were more than double what they are today, and they skyrocketed in the ‘90s (15.4%), when the timber industry turned down. Del Norte County, once the hub of the logging and timber industry, had more 55 sawmills in the county alone by the 1960s. Jobs at sawmills brought people from all over and offered a decent living wage. But by the 1980s, all of the sawmills in the county had closed, according to the Del Norte Historical Society. The local economy began to recover from the loss of the timber industry in the early 2000s and the unemployment rate did not rise above 10% until the Great Recession hit in 2008. That recession was a global economic plunge that spurred many of the U.S. unemployment rates to the highest percentages since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Del Norte County felt the ramifications of the recession more than the rest of the state and recovered more slowly, not improving until 2014, according to Weaver. Del Norte reached its highest percentage of unemployment in the recession in 2012, at 13.5%, and did not begin to recover until 2013, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Economic Data. Since then, jobs have become more abundant locally, according to Hernandez. One of the reasons for a lower unemployment rate is that Del Norte County is facing an aging workforce, said Weaver. Contrary to other areas of the nation, the baby boomer generation in Del Norte is retiring and jobs are opening up for younger generations. While the baby boomer generation is having difficulty retiring in other cities, according to the New York Post, Crescent City and Brookings are seeing a growing retirement community, which offers positions for the younger workforce. Most jobs in Del Norte County come from local government, which employs around 3,630 residents. As in most counties, education and health services also offer a significant number of the county’s jobs. Around 1,640 people in Del Norte County currently work in the education and health services fields. Even during the recession, health-related businesses steadily hired job seekers, according to Weaver. Leisure and hospitality businesses, meantime, provide the next-largest number of jobs, due to the area’s booming tourist market. Still, Weaver said, one of the problems is that not all of of these positions offer a living wage. And Pelican Bay State Prison is a significant employer for this area, employing around 800 residents. Even then, as with other penitentiaries in California, it is usually in need of more staff. The prison will be hosting two skills-testing events at Elk Valley Rancheria in Crescent City on Oct. 25 and 26 as a recruiting effort. “As far as I can tell, pretty much every correctional facility in the state is recruiting really hard,” Weaver said. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });