Unemployment numbers in Stanislaus County dropped to 8.3% in November, marking another month of decrease since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
But due to the nature of month-by-month unemployment data, economist Jeff Michael, the director of the Center for Business and Policy Research at the University of the Pacific, warns that what looks like steady recovery may in reality be masking a “stall.”
“Usually unemployment starts to pick back up in the Modesto area for seasonal factors, as the (agriculture) sector starts winding down for the year,” Michael said. “This year, the unemployment rate has declined because we’ve seen people withdraw from the labor force in November at a faster rate than (there has been) employment, and so the unemployment rate is a very deceptive indicator at the moment.”
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