Unemployment rises slightly locally

By Mark Kellam

Aug. 19, 2016 1:07 PM PT

Unemployment rates rose slightly last month in Glendale and Burbank with job declines in leisure and hospitality as well as public educational institutions due to summer recess driving up the numbers across Los Angeles County, according to the latest labor report.

The jobless rates in both cities increased by 0.3%, coming in at 4.5% in Burbank and 5.3% in Glendale, according to statistics released Friday by the California Employment Development Department.

The state’s unemployment rate was 5.5% last month, an uptick from 5.4% in June, but a significant improvement from 6.1% in July 2015.

In La Cañada Flintridge, the jobless rate edged up to 2.9%, a 0.2% rise, while the La Crescenta-Montrose area also reported a 0.2% increase, up to 3%.

Mark Kellam

Mark Kellam was city editor of the Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader. He joined Times Community News in July 2011 as the business-politics reporter and was promoted to city editor in January 2013. Previously, he was an editor at the Los Angeles Daily News and managing editor at Champion Newspapers in Chino, Calif. Prior to that, he was an editor at Amos Suburban Newspapers in Dayton, Ohio, for several years. Kellam holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Indiana University.