California unemployment rate drops to 7.4 percent

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- California's unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level in six years, reaching 7.4 percent in June.

In the Valley, four of the six counties remain in double digits, and five of the six are still significantly higher than the state average. But some industries have seen big gains in new hires.

It's Elizabeth Gomez's birthday today. But instead of celebrating, she's at the Employment Development Department applying for jobs. Gomez is one of nearly 48,000 people in Fresno County looking for work.

"It's not easy. There's no work out there. I've been to job fairs, unemployment office, Workforce and there's nothing out there," said Gomez.

Pedro Vargas watches the labor market closely. He says there's been an increase by roughly 2,200 jobs in farm labor. Even though it's typical to see these seasonal hires, it's still surprising because of the drought.

"Our farmers are very smart individuals. They plan for things like this and they also adapt," said Vargas.

In the month of June, local food manufacturing companies hired 500 people. Specialty construction workers are also seeing more jobs come available in Fresno.

"They do repairs on homes. They do new repairs, refurbishing, which also shows that people have confidence that the economy is going to be OK," said Vargas.

But for the month of June, the unemployment rate came in at 10.4 percent -- still about 2 percent higher than pre-recession figures.