Seal Beach’s unemployment rate dropped in March, according to the California Employment Development Department.
Unemployment rates also dropped in Rossmoor and Los Alamitos, which had the lowest rate of the three communities.
The March figures are considered preliminary, have not been adjusted for the season and are based on city of residence rather than city of employment.
Statistics for previous months and years are not considered preliminary. However, they haven’t been seasonally adjusted, either.
The state employment agency put Seal Beach unemployment at 4.6 percent, which is 0.2 percent below the February rate of 4.8 percent.
The March percentage is noticeably better than the January Seal Beach unemployment rate of 5.2 percent.
“Though the drop represents a positive trend over time, it is quite small. Seal Beach continues to be a highly desirable location to live, work and visit,” said Seth Eaker, a local business consultant and spokesman for the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce.
As Eaker said, the Seal Beach unemployment trend has been positive over time.
Not only has unemployment decreased consistently since 2013 started, the local numbers have been going down since 2011. In March 2012, for example, Seal Beach unemployment was 5.8 percent. In March 2011, the rate was 6.6 percent.
“In a sense, Seal Beach is a microclimate economically. Since small business is defined as ‘less than 50 people,’ even a single small business leaving could have a major impact,” Eaker said. “The city of Seal Beach should continue its policies, which encourage reasonable business growth and sustainability when the state does little to attract or retain business of all sizes.”
Seal Beach certainly did better than California in March, though there was a small drop in the statewide unemployment rate. For that matter, Seal Beach did better than the county, the state and the nation.
“California’s unemployment rate decreased to 9.4 percent in March, and non-farm payroll jobs increased by 25,000 during the month for a total gain of 746,800 jobs jobs since the recovery began in February 2010,” according to an Employment Development Department statement issued in mid-April.
Like Seal Beach, California’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percent between February and March.
Nationally, the country overall did better than the state of California—though nowhere near as well as the Sun Region. The U.S. Unemployment rate was 7.6 percent.
Orange County’s March unemployment rate was 6.3 percent. That was better than Los Angeles County’s unemployment rate of 9.9 percent, a rate slightly worse than the statewide rate.
While Seal Beach figures were good, other Sun Region communities did better.
Of the three Sun Region communities—Seal Beach, Rossmoor and Los Alamitos—it was Los Alamitos that had the best news on the job front.
In March of this year, Los Alamitos had 3.5 percent unemployment. In February, that rate was 3.6 percent and in January the rate was 3.9 percent.
Like Seal Beach and the state, Los Alamitos’ jobless numbers have been decreasing over time. In March 2011 the Los Alamitos unemployment rate was 4.9 percent. In March 2012, the rate was 4.4 percent.
Rossmoor also saw good news, with a March rate of 3.9 percent—only 0.3 percent higher than that of Los Alamitos.
Rossmoor’s February rate was 4.0 percent and the unincorporated community’s January rate was 4.4 percent.
In March 2011, Los Alamitos’ unemployment rate was 5.5 percent. In March 2012, the Los Alamitos rate was 4.9 percent.
Sun Region communities did better than some of their Orange County neighbors.
Cypress’ March 2013 unemployment rate was 6.7 percent and Stanton’s rate was10.3 percent.
April unemployment figures will be available later in May.
