Unemployment continues to fall in Barstow

The unemployment rate continued to fall in Barstow during September as did rates in many High Desert cities, according to preliminary data released Friday by the state’s Employment Development Department.

The rate dropped 0.9 percent in Barstow with 13.9 percent of the workforce looking for employment in September.

Hesperia and Victorville also saw a 0.9 percent drop in each city, while Apple Valley’s rate fell by 0.8 percent and Wrightwood’s already-low rate fell by 0.5 percent.

The High Desert still has a significantly higher rate of unemployment than San Bernardino County, California and the nation. Here, some 14,400 or 13.6 percent of 105,800 residents from the five local cities plus Wrightwood are unemployed, while the county rate for September fell to 11.1 percent, California’s unadjusted rate dropped to 9.7 percent and the nation’s rate declined to 7.6 percent.

For the Inland Empire region, professional and business service industries posted the largest month-over-month job gains, expanding by 1,200 positions, according to the EDD.

Government, construction, trade, transportation, educational and health services, utilities and information industries also added jobs in San Bernardino and Riverside counties from August to September, while leisure and hospitality, manufacturing and uncategorized industries fell by a combined 1,800 jobs.

Editor’s note: For a deeper look at the unemployment rate, including those who’ve given up looking for work, see Sunday’s Press Dispatch.