California's unemployment rate has dipped below 10% for the first time since March.
A new report from the state Employment Development Department shows California added 145,500 jobs in October as the state's unemployment rate fell to 9.3%.
In San Luis Obispo County, the unemployment rate was 6.0% in October, down from 7.2 percent in September. Santa Barbara County's unemployment rate was 6.3%, down from 7.3% in September.
California has now recovered 44% of the more than 2.6 million jobs it lost in the spring.
The state leisure and hospitality industry added 66,000 jobs.
But those gains could be short-lived as a surge of cases has already prompted new restrictions on businesses. California has ordered most restaurants to halt indoor dining and imposed a 10 p.m. curfew in most areas that begins Saturday.
