June unemployment rates edge up across the region
The tight labor market `will continue to act as a constraint on job growth,' one analyst forecasts
Unemployment rose in June across Southern California as inflation crimped employer payrolls.
Los Angeles County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.3%, up from a revised 5.2% in May, according to figures released Friday by the state Employment Development Department.
L.A. County’s 5.3% rate was well below the 9.7% rate in June 2021.
In Orange County, where seasonally adjusted figures were not available, the unemployment rate was 2.9%, up from 2.4% in May.
Statewide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.2%, down from 4.3% in May and below the 7.9% rate from June 2021. The comparable estimates for the nation were 3.6% in June, 3.6% in May and 5.9% in June of last year.
“After an impressive start to the year, in which the state added jobs at a rate 20% higher than the rest of the nation, we shouldn’t overinterpret a slowdown in one month,” said Taner Osman, research manager at Beacon Economics and the Center for Economic Forecasting. “Still, California’s tight labor market has not eased up and will continue to act as a constraint on job growth.”
According to the EDD, total nonfarm employment in Los Angeles County increased by 9,500 jobs between May and June to reach more than 4.5 million.
The leisure and hospitality sector led the way by adding 5,200 jobs.
In the Inland Empire, gains in multiple sectors of the regional economy were offset by losses in others, pushing Riverside County’s unemployment rate back up to 4% last month.
The jobless rate was 4% for both Riverside and San Bernardino counties, compared with 3.4% in May.
According to figures, the June rate was over 4 percentage points lower than the year-ago level, when countywide unemployment stood at 8.4%, as the statewide coronavirus public health lockdowns were gradually eased.
An estimated 43,500 county residents were recorded as out of work in June, and 1,101,000 were employed, according to EDD.
Coachella had the highest unemployment rate countywide last month at 8.8%, followed by Cherry Valley at 7.4%, Mecca at 6.4%, Rancho Mirage at 6% and Hemet at 5.6%.
Bi-county data indicated payrolls expanded by the widest margins in retail trade, warehousing and professional business services, which altogether added 6,000 positions in June.
Additional gains were documented in the agricultural, health services, manufacturing and mining sectors, which swelled by an aggregate 3,400 jobs in June, according to EDD.
Payrolls sank the largest in the leisure and hospitality sector, which shed 1,600 positions. Declines were also documented in the public sector and miscellaneous unclassified industries, which together lost 1,400.
The construction, financial services and information technology sectors were unchanged.
Data showed that the statewide non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in June was, like the Inland Empire, 4%.