(Unemployment up)….The latest unemployment numbers are for January.

They were released recently by the Labor Market Information Division of the Employment Development Department. According to the numbers, unemployment for January in the Imperial County was at 18.8 percent. That is up from the 17 percent recorded in December 2019, and above the year ago estimate of 18.3 percent. This compares with an unadjusted estimate of 4.3 percent for the state and 4.0 percent for the nation during the same period. In January 13,800 eligible workers were unemployed out of a labor force of 73,400.