Mill Valley’s Jobless Rate Sinks to Lowest Level in Two Years

The unemployment rate in Mill Valley sunk to its lowest level in more than two years in May, according to a report released today by the California Employment Development Department.

The report pegged Mill Valley’s jobless rate for May at 5.4 percent of its labor force of 7,100 people. That is the lowest jobless rate in Mill Valley since April 2009, when it was 5.4 percent and on its way on the heels of the financial crisis.

Mill Valley’s unemployment hovered between 2 and 3 percent for most of the past decade. It started the 2000s with an annual jobless rate of 1.9 percent and ended the decade at 5.9 percent, rising as high as 6.5 percent in January of this year.

But while jobless rates have risen considerably over the past few years, they continue to pale in comparison to the rest of the state. The California unemployment rate also dropped in May, sinking from 11.8 percent in April to 11.7 percent in May, department officials said.

Mill Valley’s rate remains lower than much of Marin County, which has the lowest jobless rate in the state at 7.4 percent. For instance, the jobless rate in Fairfax for May was 12.3 percent, while it was 9.1 percent in San Anselmo and 8.7 percent in San Rafael

In the Bay Area, the highest employment rate this month was in Solano County at 11.3 percent.

National unemployment increased last month, reaching 9.1 percent. The state's unemployment rate is based on a federal survey of 5,500 California households and does not include agricultural jobs.

Mill Valley's Unemployment Rate in May since 2000: