(Unemployment down in May),,,May numbers are the latest available.

They were released Friday morning by the Labor Market Information Division of the Employment Development Department. The Imperial County Unemployment rate for May came in at 27.8 percent, down from a revised 28.1 percent in April and above the year ago estimate of 16.5 percent. The recent high numbers are due to employee lay-offs as a result of business shut-downs due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The local numbers compare to an unemployment rate of 15.9 percent for the state and 13.0 percent for the nation during the same period. During the month of May there were 19,900 eligible  employees unemployed out of a labor force in Imperial County of 71,700