The unemployment rates in Stanislaus and Merced counties rose again during the month of June, according to the latest data provided by the State of California Employee Development Department, making it five out of the last six months in which regional rates have failed to improve.

In Stanislaus County, the rate rose from 6.4% in May to 6.8% in June, representing approximately 16,600 residents without work. Over in Merced County. The unemployment rate rose to 9.5% in June, up from 9.2% in May, representing roughly 11,000 folks without work.

Taking a closer look, the city of Turlock posted a 5.2% June unemployment rate, representing 1,800 individuals without jobs. Hughson posted the second-highest figure with 300 folks without work. Meanwhile, Denair, Hilmar and Keyes each reported having around 100 residents without work during the month.

One of the main factors contributing to the significant increase in unemployment was the farming industry, which saw about 2,200 jobs lost between the two counties. Of those, 1,000 jobs lost were in Stanislaus County while the remaining 1,200 were in Merced County.

While the loss of farming jobs put a large dent in the overall statistics released by the EDD, manufacturing jobs were the largest growing throughout June. There were about 300 food manufacturing jobs added in Stanislaus County and about 200 in Merced County.

As always, the most in-demand line of work in Stanislaus County is the health care and social assistance sectors. There are currently 1,513 job listings for the industry within the county, with 538 of them being for registered nurses. Retail trade comes in as a close second in the county, as there are 1,004 postings currently online.

Registered nurses are also a hot commodity in Merced County, as the position is the most in-demand in the region with 93 online job postings. Additionally, private education services are highly in need as there are currently 457 postings for the industry.

Taking a broader view at the state of jobs, California as a whole posted a 4.9% rate while the United States had a 3.8% unemployment rate for the month of June.