State’s top job creator is Inland Empire

The region comprising Riverside and San Bernardino counties may be California’s most underappreciated economic asset.

My trusty spreadsheet looked at state and federal employment statistics for California and its 29 regional job markets. The twocounty Inland Empire was California’s top job creator during the past four years, averaging 1.68 million workers in 2023 — up 128,400 versus 2019. That gain easily was No. 1 among the state’s job markets.

Or look at the outperformance this way. California added 640,300 jobs since 2019 to 18.1 million. So the Inland Empire created 20% of the state’s new jobs, but it comprises only 9% of the state’s total employment.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a key driver in the Inland Empire’s job growth, as the push for online shopping fueled rapid growth in logistics work. The region is a hot spot for transportation, warehouse, and utilities employment.

Consider that the Inland Empire last year had 209,000 of the state’s 865,000 logistics jobs — a 24% share. Yet the Riversidesan Bernardino region added 61,500 of these jobs in four years, 40% of California’s new 157,000 logistics workers.

Other growth spots

• Los Angeles County was No. 2 for job growth during the past four years with 79,000 jobs added to 4.6 million, the state’s largest job market. Other big job increases were in:

• San Diego County: 69,900 added since 2019 to 1.6 million.

• Sacramento: 67,600 added since 2019 to 1.1 million.

• Orange County: 39,000 added since 2019 to 1.7 million.

• San Jose-santa Clara: 36,500 added since 2019 to 1.2 million.

• Stockton: 30,700 added since 2019 to 278,000. That 12.4% growth was No. 1 among the metros.

• Fresno: 26,900 added since 2019 to 390,000.

• San Francisco: 26,300 added since 2019 to 1.2 million.

• Bakersfield: 18,500 added since 2019 to 292,000.

• Visalia-porterville: 13,200 added since 2019 to 142,000.

• Oakland-berkeley: 11,400 added since 2019 to 1.2 million.

Worrisome chill

Though California’s job count has grown since 2019, the hiring pace was cut in half by the coronavirus and the state’s reaction to the pandemic.

Yes, all the California job losses from the coronavirus business limitations have been refilled, and then some.

But the past four years’ job