HARVEST SKEWS JOBS REPORT

Kern County’s unemployment rate dropped by a full point in to 10.6 percent in April. That decline is deceiving as the Employment Development Department says that was expected due to an increase in spring harvest farm jobs. The local oil industry did lose another 100 jobs but that’s a lot less than the 400-plus jobs it had been shedding every month this year. Government, education and social service jobs saw gains as did retail locally.