Kern County’s unemployment rate dropped for the third month in a row. The local figure is still well above the statewide rate of 5.5 percent. September’s county jobless rate was 9.2 percent with Bakersfield at 8.2. Nearly 12 percent in Oildale have no jobs and it’s about 14 percent in McFarland. Unemployment declines in the fall each year but rises again in the spring and that pattern is on the same track this year as in 2015.

Sean Michael Lisle