OTHER NEWS - Dec. 3, 1992

San Joaquin Valley Jobless Rate Soars: The end of harvests increased the San Joaquin Valley’s recession-ravaged unemployment rates sharply during October, including a record in Kern County, the state reported. Jobless rates were more than 4% higher than in October, 1991, in six of the region’s eight counties, according to state Department of Employment Development statistics. Kern County’s rate of 16.9% was the highest there since the state changed its method of figuring jobless totals in 1974, analyst Joe Szalajko said. Kern’s previous high during that period was 16.5% in March, 1984.