Mission Viejo Unemployment Dips Below 4%

In May, the Mission Viejo unemployment rate dropped just below 4 percent for the first time since the summer of 2008, according to figures released Friday by the California Employment Development Department.

Last month an estimated 2,200 Mission Viejo residents were looking for work, the CEDD said. That's 100 fewer job-seekers than in April, and 700 fewer than May 2012.

In the past five years, unemployment was highest from Jan-Aug. 2010, when the rate reached as high as 7.2 percent. Unemployment steadily fell in 2012, beginning the year at just under 6 percent and finishing at just below 5.

As a whole, Orange County had an estimated 89,000 unemployed residents in May, with 1.5 million working residents.

The state's non-seasonally adjusted rate was 8.1 percent in May- seasonal adjustment accounts for seasonal shifts in labor such as increased construction and agricultural work in spring and summer - only non-seasonally adjusted figures are available for individual cities.

How to Use the Map

You can see how every city in the state fared in May's report, by clicking on it in the above map.  The blue cities are within 10 percent of the state average, the light green are have unemployment rates at least 50 percent lower than state average, and darker green cities are between.

Dan Abendschein contributed to this report.