The State of California’s Employee Development Department released its month labor report this week, and the statistics show that unemployment rates in the region had little movement during the month of May. It comes as California and the United States have seen slight rises in unemployment rates.

In Stanislaus County, the unemployment rose slightly from 6.2% in April to 6.4% in May, representing approximately 15,600 individuals. Meanwhile, Merced County saw a slight decrease with a 9.3% rate in May compared to a 9.8% in April, representing roughly 10,800 individuals. As for California, the rate rose from 4.3% to 4.5% while the United State saw a rise from 3.1% to 3.4%.

In terms of specific cities, the city of Turlock posted a 4.4% rate, translating to about 1,500 folks without work. Nearby Denair posted a similar rate of 4.5%, representing just 100 people in their much smaller population. Similar sized Hughson, though, posted a rate of 9%, which is about 300 individuals without work. Over in Hilmar, they also have about 100 folks without work, which translates to a 5% rate. Keyes also had 100 unemployed individuals for a 4.4% rate while Delhi posted 9% rate for 500 individuals. 

Though Stanislaus County saw its rate rise, more jobs were created. In fact, the farming industry led the way by filling roughly 2,500 positions. The main reason for the increased unemployment was the fact that the county’s labor force grew from 243,300 to 245,800 in a month’s span. The same story unfolded in Merced County, as their farming industry filled 1,600 positions. The major difference between the two counties was that Merced County’s labor force remained at 116,700.

As it has been for as long as anybody can remember, the top employment sector in each of the counties is the health care and social assistance industry. In Stanislaus County, there are currently 2,499 job advertisements in the industry, while Merced County has 474. Within the industry, registered nurses remain the most in-demand position with Stanislaus County looking to fill 679 jobs and Merced County looking to fill 117.

Aside from health care and social assistance, retail jobs are still aplenty. There are over 1,050 retail positions open in Stanislaus County, while there are 325 openings in Merced County.