75,100 hires in 2022, unemployment at 3.6%

Riverside and San Bernardino counties bosses added 75,100 workers last year as the local job market finished 2022 with employment at 106% of prepandemic December 2019.

My trusty spreadsheet, filled with state employment data, found Riverside and San Bernardino counties with 1.71 million employees in December after adding 75,100 in 12 months. Yes, those hires were 19% slower than 2021’s 92,400 new workers. But the last two years were a recovery from pandemic era business restrictions that cut 67,200 employees in 2020.

So three years of ups and downs in the coronavirus economy left the local job market with 100,300 more paychecks vs. December 2019, a time when nobody worried about a pandemic. Note that bosses in the inland Empire added 162,600 jobs in the three years before the virus struck.

The hiring spree dropped joblessness. Riverside and San Bernardino counties’ unemployment rate finished 2022 at ended 2022 at 3.6% vs. a rate of 5% a year earlier, 9% at year-end 2020 and 3.7% in December 2019.

However, the Inland Empire’s hiring turnabout was not equal by industry. Look at key local job categories, ranked by how much of prepandemic employment has been recovered at the end of 2022 …

Transportation/warehouses: 142% of December 2019. Jobs at record 231,400 employees after adding 13,900 in 2022, growing by 18,800 positions in 2021, and adding 35,900 in 2020.

Business services: 110% of December 2019. Jobs at record 184,600 jobs after adding 13,700 in 2022, growing by 7,500 positions in 2021, and cutting 3,800 in 2020.

Health and personal services: 106% of December 2019. Jobs at record 251,800 jobs after adding 16,800 jobs in 2022, losing 800 positions in 2021, and cutting 800 in 2020.

Restaurants: 106% of December 2019. Jobs at 146,600 positions after adding 7,900 in 2022, growing by 25,500 workers in 2021, and cutting 24,700 in 2020.

Construction, real estate, finance: 104% of December 2019. Jobs at 148,600 employees after adding 6,900 jobs in 2022, losing 300 workers in 2021, and cutting 1,300 in 2020.

Retailing: 100% of December 2019. Jobs at 189,200 positions after adding 1,400 in 2022, growing by 7,000 jobs in 2021, and cutting 8,900 in 2020.

Manufacturing: 97% of December 2019. Jobs at 97,500 workers after adding 1,300 in 2022, growing by 2,000 positions in 2021, and cutting 6,000 in 2020.

Government: 97% of December 2019. Jobs at 259,000 jobs after adding 5,300 in 2022, growing by 14,100 positions in 2021, and cutting 27,100 in 2020.

Arts, entertainment and recreation: 91% of December 2019. Jobs at 20,400 workers after adding 600 in 2022, growing by 5,500 positions in 2021, and cutting 8,200 in 2020.

Hotels: 88% of December 2019. Jobs at 15,900 workers after adding 1,500 in 2022, growing by 3,400 jobs in 2021, and cutting 7,100 in 2020.