Nevada County’s April unemployment rate is the first to illustrate what a difference a year makes. Louis Alejo, with the state’s Employment Development Department, says it’s at five-point-nine percent. A year ago, it was 15-point-four percent, when the economic impacts of the pandemic were first starting to be felt. It’s part of a gradual or more traditional decline this year, down two-tenths of a point from March. There were 220 more construction jobs in April…

click to listen to Luis Alejo

Other sectors getting closer to, or even exceeding, pre-pandemic levels include manufacturing, retail trade, transportation, utilities, and professional and business services. But others are still lagging, so far, this year…

click to listen to Luis Alejo

Meanwhile, civilian employment has taken a dramatic jump from a year ago, or five-thousand-300. Nevada County also has the eighth-lowest jobless rate among the state’s 58 counties.