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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The Employment Development Department’s latest report said Lake County’s December unemployment rate was 5.7%, down from a final adjusted rate of 5.9% in November and 8.8% in December 2020.
EDD records show that it’s the lowest jobless rate for Lake County since December 2019, when the county reported 5.5% unemployment.
The EDD said California’s overall rate for December was 6.5%, down from 7% in November and 9.3% in December 2020.
On the national level, unemployment in December reached 3.9%, down from 4.2% in December and 6.7% the previous December.
Lake County’s 5.7% rate ranked it No. 40 out of the state’s 58 counties.
Marin had the lowest unemployment rate in December at 2.7%, and the highest, 14.7%, was in Imperial County.
Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks were: Colusa, 11.9%, No. 57; Glenn, 5.2%, No. 33; Mendocino, 4.6%, No. 24; Napa, 4.1%, No. 15; Sonoma, 3.5%, No. 6; and Yolo, 4.2%, No. 19.
The state’s dashboard of unemployment claims showed Lake County residents filed 496 unemployment claims in December, up from 474 in November. In December 2020, 1,392 unemployment claims were filed in Lake County.
The state’s situation
California’s employers added 50,700 nonfarm payroll jobs to the economy, accounting for nearly 25.5% of the nation’s 199,000 overall jobs gain for the month. Payroll jobs totaling 16,892,300 in December 2021, up from 15,937,900 in December 2020.
The number of Californians employed in December was 17,836,800, an increase of 116,900 persons from November’s total of 17,719,900, and up 879,800 from the employment total in December 2020, the report said.
The EDD said the number of unemployed Californians was 1,238,000 in December, a decrease of 86,800 over the month and down 510,500 in comparison to December 2020.
Since February 2021, California has added 1,034,400 total nonfarm jobs, which averages out to be a gain of 94,036 jobs per month for that time period, the EDD said.
The report said California has seen a year-over record 6% in nonfarm jobs for 2021, which is the largest calendar year increase in the official series data going back to 1990.
The state has now regained 1,946,200, or nearly 72%, of the 2,714,800 jobs that were lost in March and April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ten of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in December with leisure and hospitality (+15,000) leading the way due to significant gains in food services and drinking places.
Professional and business services (+12,000) has regained all of the jobs it lost during the pandemic-induced recession and had good month-over gains in professional, scientific and technical services with computer systems design and related services contributing strongly.
Month-over, no industry sectors lost jobs for the first time since March 2021, according to the report.
In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, the EDD said there were 355,749 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the December 2021 sample week. That compares to 434,676 people in November and 1,007,331 people in December 2020.
Concurrently, 49,071 initial claims were processed in the December 2021 sample week, which was a month-over decrease of 3,645 claims from November and a year-over decrease of 110,021 claims from December 2020.
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
The event will take place on Friday, Feb. 11, at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
This is the 10th annual event, which will see Upper Lake and Middletown once again competing for the honor of going to the 41st annual state competition in Los Angeles.
Dana Adams of the Lake County Office of Education said last year’s event was virtual and was hosted at the Napa courthouse.
This year it will return to the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
The students will argue the fictional case of People v. Cobey, which is the trial of Jamie Cobey, a horticulturist living in the community of Burnsley, California, a semirural town in the high desert.
The case brief said Cobey is charged with the homicide of Cobey’s landlord and next-door neighbor, Erik Smith, with prosecutors alleging that Cobey placed a rattlesnake in Smith’s mailbox.
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- Written by: Lumina Albert, Colorado State University
Education leaders across the U.S. are trying to figure out how to effectively teach students about the risks and warning signs of human trafficking, which includes being forced into domestic servitude, commercial labor or sex work.
According to 2019 data gathered by the Polaris Project – a nonprofit that fights human trafficking, including sex trafficking – 24% of survivors reported that they were first trafficked before they turned 18.
In 2017, California became the first state to require human trafficking education for students and teachers. Tennessee, Florida and Virginia also now require school staff to receive formal training intended to stop human trafficking.
As cases of human trafficking continue to make headlines, similar prevention and education efforts are being made in schools across the country. Parents and community members in other states may also find similar efforts coming to their communities. As a scholar who studies business ethics – and as executive director of the Center for Ethics and Human Rights at Colorado State University – I recommend school leaders keep five key goals in mind when creating anti-trafficking educational programs.
1. Create a safe haven
Childhood researchers suggest that children need a safe haven where they can go when confronted with fear and threats. They also need a secure base, a place where they feel secure to explore the world around them.
Ideally, children’s homes would serve these purposes. But schools can also provide safe havens and secure bases. Children who feel more secure are less vulnerable to predatory people, who often fake affection and provide a false sense of love as a tactic to lure kids into the world of human trafficking.
2. Pay attention to triggers
When being taught about human trafficking, it’s possible that children’s memories of past trauma might be triggered. Educators who are aware of this possibility are more likely to be better at protecting kids from being triggered, and better able to respond properly if it happens.
Many children have been exposed to trauma, such as neglect or abandonment; physical, sexual or psychological abuse; loss of a loved one; or refugee or war experiences. When these memories are triggered, children feel distressed and unsafe.
Triggers may include words, tone of voice, facial expressions, smells, feelings or postures that are embedded in a child’s mind. And some can cause unexpected reactions in seemingly regular situations. For instance, a child whose abusive parent used to eat oranges may be triggered by the smell of an orange, and this memory may became linked with the abusive experience in the child’s mind. Or a common nickname might have been used by an abuser and can be a trigger.
Often, these memories are not conscious ones, so the child may not understand why they feel distressed or overwhelmed, and yet they respond to the trigger as if they are facing a real threat.
3. Be inclusive
When teachers show compassion, warmth and kindness to their students, students are more likely to develop a strong sense of belonging in the classroom space.
Without that sense of belonging, students might come to see themselves as unworthy of attention and love, which hurts their self-esteem and makes them more vulnerable to the influence of predators.
4. Dispel misconceptions and stereotypes
Young white women are often depicted in media as representative of trafficking victims, although women and girls of color experience high rates of trafficking.
Also, women of color who are forced to engage in sexual acts or labor are often stereotyped as deviants and treated with suspicion by officials and law enforcement.
And while boys are less commonly trafficking victims, they are still at risk of being trafficked. In addition, many human trafficking reports do not provide data on nonbinary or gender-nonconforming people.
Trafficking education materials work best when they accurately discuss who the perpetrators are. Effective anti-trafficking education teaches kids that traffickers are not just strangers or people belonging to another race or ethnicity. Traffickers are often friendly, charismatic, well-dressed and seemingly wealthy, and they may appear to be kind and warm. They may also be close family members and caregivers who exploit children in their care.
5. Use appropriate touch and tone
Teachers often use touch and tone of voice to build connections with children. But many children who have experienced trauma are sensitive to touch and avoid it. Teachers who learn how to use touch in reassuring and affirming ways – such as an encouraging pat on the back, an occasional handshake, high-five or fist bump – can help build a sense of safety and security in the classroom, building trust with students and making them less likely to fall prey to traffickers.
Similarly, using consistent tones of voice that are calm, reassuring and firm can help students’ development, engagement, learning and growth.
Schools can play an important role in helping students learn about and protect themselves from human trafficking. With these five concepts in mind, school leaders will be better prepared to help keep kids safe.
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Lumina Albert, Associate Professor of Management and Director of the CSU Center for Ethics and Human Rights, Colorado State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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- Written by: California Community Colleges
“This study validates the clear fact that California’s community colleges are an investment playing a critical role in driving the state’s economy and making a difference in millions of lives daily,” said California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley.
He noted the report’s estimates that for every $1 invested in the community college system, students gain $5 in earnings, and taxpayers see a net benefit of $2 in added tax revenue stemming from students’ higher lifetime earnings and increased output by businesses.
The average community college graduate with an associate degree will see an increase in earnings of $11,100 annually, when compared to a person with a high school diploma or equivalent.
“Millions of former community college students have secured the education and workforce training needed to earn higher incomes and an improved standard of living while businesses in virtually every industry sector are becoming more profitable thanks to the skills obtained by community college alumni,” said Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges President Pamela Haynes.
Among the report’s highlights:
• The California Community Colleges, which include 73 districts and 116 colleges, is among the state’s largest employers with 91,328 full-time and part-time faculty and staff.
• Payroll alone amounted to $8.5 billion, with colleges spending an additional $4.2 billion on day-to-day expenses. This initial round of spending creates more spending across other businesses throughout the state economy through what is commonly known as the multiplier effect.
• The California Community Colleges supported nearly 1.5 million jobs – or one of every 16 jobs in the state – when combining the impact of payroll, operating expenses and construction costs with spending by students, faculty and staff.
• The sum of the social benefits of California community colleges equal a present-day value of $265.9 billion when combining savings related to health, crime and income assistance ($3.3 billion) with students’ increased future income ($179 billion), added business income ($64.4 billion) and additional income from college activities ($19.2 billion).
The 101-page study produced by Emsi Burning Glass, titled The Economic Value of the California Community College System, incorporated an array of data including 2018-19 academic and financial reports from the college system, industry and employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau.
The economic modeling considers the added income created in the California economy as a result of increased consumer spending and the added knowledge, skills and abilities of students; and a variety of published materials relating education to social behavior.
The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation, composed of 73 districts and 116 colleges serving 1.8 million students per year.