Ventura County’s unemployment rate climbed in July for the second month it a row, even as the statewide rate fell.
Ventura County residents reported an unemployment rate of 4.7% in July’s monthly federal survey, according to data released Aug. 21 by the state of California. That was up from 4.4% in June and 3.9% in May.
The July rate was lower than the rate from one year earlier, when it was 5.1%. County-level unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted and in Ventura County, the rate tends to rise in the summer.
California’s unemployment rate in July was 5.1%, the lowest it’s been since February 2024. However, the state did show a loss of 20,500 total jobs from June to July. The job figures are based on a federal survey of businesses, separate
from the household survey that determines the unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate counts only people who are looking for work and can't find any. People who are not looking for jobs are not considered part of the workforce and are not counted as “unemployed,” so it’s possible for the unemployment rate to decline while the state loses jobs.
Including the job losses in July, California has gained 70,500 since the beginning of 2026.
The biggest job losses for the state last month were in the professional and business services sector, driven primarily by declines in jobs in computer system design and advertising, according to the California Employment Development Department’s news release.
Ventura County lost 7,100 jobs from June to July, and 1,500 from July 2025 to July 2026. Private education and health care was the only industry to show significant job growth over the past year, while the biggest decline was in business and professional services.
Tony Biasotti is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tbiasotti@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura County unemployment rate ticks up for second straight month
