Unemployment rates in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties all dropped in June, but all three remained in double digits, and worse than the nadir of the Great Recession a decade ago, according to data released July 17 by the California Employment Development Department.

Ventura County’s unemployment rate was 12.6 percent in June, down from 13.7 percent in May and 13.9 percent in April. In Santa Barbara County, the unemployment rate was 11.6 percent in June, down from 12.9 percent in May and 13.9 percent in April. In San Luis Obispo County, the unemployment rate in June was 11.5 percent, down from 12.9 percent in May and 14 percent in April.

The combined unemployment rate for all three counties was 12.1 percent in June. Despite the fact that 91,900 members of the tri-county workforce were unemployed, the region was better off than California as a whole, which had an unemployment rate of 15.1 percent. The national unemployment rate in June was 11.2 percent.

The unemployment rates during the COVID-19 pandemic are higher than at any time since the Great Depression. The last major spike in unemployment rates was in 2010 and 2010, when rates topped at 10 percent to 11 percent in the Tri-Counties.