Riverside County’s unemployment rate started 2025 higher than where it ended 2024, as a result of payroll losses throughout the regional economy, according to figures released today by the California Employment Development Department.
The countywide jobless rate in January, based on preliminary EDD estimates, was 5.3%, compared to 5% in December.
According to figures, the January rate was two-tenths of a percentage point below the year-ago level, when countywide unemployment stood at 5.5%.
EDD posted the data outside of its usual schedule due to an annual statistical revision process done in concert with the U.S. Department of Labor known as “benchmarking,” which is intended to improve accuracy of results.
The process will wrap up toward the end of this month, at which point the February jobless numbers will be released.
The latest agency estimates indicated that Mecca had the highest unemployment rate within the county in January at 12.9%, followed by Cherry Valley at 9.6%, Coachella at 8.7%, Rancho Mirage at 7.6% and East Hemet at 7.4%
The combined unemployment rate for Riverside and San Bernardino counties — the Inland Empire — was also 5.3%, up from 4.9% in December, the EDD said.
Bi-county data indicated that payrolls shrank across the board, led by the trade, transportation and utilities sector, which shed an estimated 23,400 jobs, mainly in retail trade, as outlets and suppliers began cutting back following the Holiday Season shopping blitz.
Additional loses were recorded in the agricultural, construction, financial services, health services, hospitality, information technology, manufacturing and professional business services sectors, which lost an aggregate 16,000 positions, according to figures.
Miscellaneous unclassified industries also contracted by 1,000.
The mining and public sectors were unchanged.
The statewide non-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in January was 5.5%.
