California job growth slows

The state’s unemployment rate decreased last month, according to data released Friday by the California Employment Development Department.

Department officials said the unemployment rate decreased to 5.7 percent in November, based on two surveys. This represents a .1 percent improvement over each of the months before that.

Nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 5,500 last month compared to October, department officials said.

These added jobs make for a total gain of 2,136,700 jobs since the recovery began in February 2010 and an increase of 417,100 from November 2014, according to department officials.

In November 2014, the statewide unemployment rate was 7.2, according to department officials. That rate has dropped by 1.5 percent compared to last month’s figure.

In the Bay Area this November, San Mateo County had the lowest number of unemployed workers at 3.1 percent. Marin County had the second lowest at 3.3 percent and San Francisco had the third lowest at 3.4 percent.

The highest number of unemployed workers in the region includes Alameda County with a 4.4 percent unemployment rate, Contra Costa County at 4.6 percent and Solano County at 5.6 percent.

Contra Costa and Alameda counties both dropped unemployment by .1 percent compared to last month, but Solano County remained the same.

Unemployment figures are taken from a federal survey of 5,500 households throughout the state.