The unemployment rates in Stanislaus County saw a slight drop in the month of August, mainly fueled by a hiring jump in the farming and manufacturing sectors, according to preliminary data from the State of California Employment Development Department (EDD). 

In Stanislaus County, the unemployment rate in August was 7%, equating to roughly 17,600 members of the labor force without work. That’s a half-percent drop from July, when there were 18,800 individuals without work.

Ceres has a slightly higher jobless rate of 7.7 percent, and translated to bodies, that is 1,700 who were idle. Hughson had 300 members of the labor force (10 percent) without a job in August while 4.7 percent of those in Keyes were jobless, or around 100 persons.

Turlock makes up 2,100 of those in Stanislaus County currently without work.

The Bystrum area of south Modesto experienced the highest percentage of unemployed, 13.3 percent.

Farming jobs made up a combined 1,800 new hires between the two local counties. There were 1,200 in Stanislaus. Meanwhile, over 900 manufacturing jobs were added to the Stanislaus labor market. Another 100 jobs in the wholesale trade industry were created in Stanislaus County.

The gains came as government jobs took a hit in each of the counties. More than 300 government positions were let go in Stanislaus County.

The health care and social assistance sectors remain in high demand across the region. According to the EDD database, there are currently 1,190 job postings in the sector in Stanislaus County alone. There is also a need for retail workers, with 813 posting in Stanislaus County. The private education sector is also making a hiring push with 584 postings in Stanislaus.

Those on the hunt for a job can find resources at www.edd.ca.gov/en/jobs.