Gilroy's Unemployment Rate Drops in May

State and Bay Area jobless rates declined slightly in May, according to a report released on June 15 by state employment officials.

The state's unemployment rate in May was 10.8 percent according to the California Employment Development Department, down slightly from April's 10.9 percent rate. That number is down from 11.9 percent in May 2011.

Santa Clara County was at 8.2 percent in May, down from . Gilroy's unemployment rate, which has hovered between 14 and 13 percent over the last year, decreased to 12.4 percent last month. 

Saratoga has the lowest unemployment rate in Santa Clara County, resting at 4.1 percent, while San Martin has the highest number of unemployed individuals at 19.4 percent.

Unemployment figures in other Santa Clara County cities are:

In the Bay Area, Marin County, which has the lowest jobless rate in the state, dropped to 6.3 percent from April's 6.4 percent. Solano County, which has the highest unemployment rate in the Bay Area, also saw a decline, from 10.2 percent in April to 10.1 percent in May.

San Francisco's unemployment rate was 7.4 percent in May, the same as in April, and Alameda County was at 9.1 percent in May.

The national unemployment rate, however, went up slightly in May to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent the previous month. The state's unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,500 households around California.

The federal survey of households, shows an increase in the number of employed people. It estimates the number of Californians holding jobs in April was 16,476,000, an increase of 20,000 from March, and up 296,000 from the employment total in April of last year.

The number of people unemployed in California was 2,007,000, down by 24,000 over the month, and down by 164,000 compared with April of last year. 

Editor's note: The city figures are preliminary and have not be seasonally adjusted. 

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—Bay City News and Corinne Speckert