Aliso Viejo Unemployment Dips Below 3%

In May, the Aliso Viejo unemployment rate dropped below 3 percent for the first time since the summer of 2008, according to figures released Friday by the California Employment Development Department.

An estimated 800 residents looking for work were unemployed in May, the CEDD said. That's down from 1,100 jobseekers at the same time last year. Unemployment hit its peak from Jan. to March 2010, when an estimated 1,400 residents were out of work.

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.