Merced County, CA jobs, unemployment and layoffs
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Show me jobs near meMerced County economy
8.1%
unemployment, Sep 2026
8.4% the month before
125,119
in the labor force
Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics
285,597
people in Merced County
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
$65,044
median household income
Source: Census ACS
26%
of workers in white-collar occupations
Management, business, financial and professional; Census ACS
Merced County outlook: Building
Built from public Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census figures. It describes the area, not any one employer in it.
- Private-sector jobs up 0.5% from 2022 to 2025
- Population up 5.1% from 2020 to 2025
- Unemployment 8.1%, down 0.3 points from a year ago
- Sectors adding the most jobs: health care (+2,681 jobs), other services (+647 jobs)
- Sectors losing the most jobs: manufacturing (−959 jobs), retail (−336 jobs)
Learn and get funded in Merced County
- Which AI skills each kind of job asks for, with the pay premium.
- Your local workforce board and American Job Centers: training vouchers and re-employment help.
- Grants and funding for job seekers, ranked for your state and situation.
- Unemployment benefits by state, if you are between jobs.
Merced County layoffs
No layoff notices naming Merced County in the last 12 months are on file. The WARN Act covers employers with 100 or more workers, so smaller layoffs are not in it.
Employers hiring most in Merced County
Employers with the most open professional roles in this county’s cities. The county is taken from each job’s city, so roles with no city are not counted.
- Sensient Technologies3 open roles
- Memorial Hospital Logansport2 open roles
- Brightpath Associates1 open role
- Foster Farms1 open role
- Golden Valley Health Centers1 open role
- Jain Farm Fresh Foods1 open role
- Memorial Medical Center1 open role
- ofi1 open role
- University of California Merced1 open role
- University of California, Merced1 open role
Largest employers headquartered in Merced County
- University of California Merced1,001–5,000 employees
Employee counts with a year are published figures (Wikidata). Other sizes are estimates from our company directory, not payroll counts.
Colleges in Merced County
| College | City | Type | Students |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of California-Merced | Merced | Public 4-year | 5,000–9,999 |
Workforce development and job centers
The public workforce board and American Job Centers serving Merced County. They offer free help with job search, training and filing for benefits.
Laid off in California? How to file for unemployment in California (steps, weekly amount and the appeal deadline).
- PROSPERO WORKFORCE BOARD
Merced
Prospero at Breaking Barriers
Los Banos · Comprehensive · 209-724-6043
Monday - Friday 8:00am to 5:00pm
EDD Merced WSB / Merced County Worknet
Merced · Comprehensive
Monday- Friday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; First Thursday of every month 8:00 am - 7:00 pm.
Cities in Merced County
Other California counties
Laid off or looking for work in Merced County?
See what to do first and the jobs open near you.
See your options after a layoffSources: Census Bureau and BLS (county unemployment is not seasonally adjusted); layoff notices from California’s published record; job counts from our live job board; IPEDS for colleges; CareerOneStop for workforce boards and job centers. California unemployment benefits and severance rules.
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