Mill Valley's Jobless Rate Rises Again

Despite mild improvement over the first part of 2010, the unemployment rate for Mill Valley rose for the second consecutive month in July, according to the state Employment Development Department.

Mill Valley's jobless rate rose to 6.4 percent in July, up from 6.2 percent in June and 6.0 percent in May. By comparison, the percentage of out-of-work local residents was 2.9 percent in 2005, 2.6 percent in 2006, 2.7 percent in 2007 and 3.5 percent in 2008. It rose to 5.9 percent in 2009.

The jobless rate across Marin County also climbed, increasing to 8.6 percent from 8.2 percent in June. It remained the lowest among California's counties.

Despite the rate increase in Mill Valley, the number of employed and unemployed people in town did not change because the state rounds out all of its local data. Of Mill Valley's workforce of 7,100 people, 6,700 were employed in July.

Those figures do not include those who are either partially employed, self-employed or are no longer collecting unemployment benefits because they have given up looking for a job.