Unemployment rate falls in California
State adds 41.4K jobs despite slow economy
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California employers added 41,400 new jobs in April, dropping the state’s unemployment rate to the lowest its been since the start of the pandemic following 14 consecutive months of growth.
The nation’s most populous state has now regained more than 91 percent of the 2.7 million jobs lost in March and April 2020, back at the start of the pandemic.
California’s labor force — the number of people who either have jobs or are looking for work — added 111,800 people in April, an encouraging sign for employers who have had trouble finding workers to keep up with surging demand for goods and services.
“These are encouraging signs indicating that California’s economy is gradually returning to normal,” said Sung Won Sohn, a professor of economics at Loyola Marymount University who closely monitors California’s economy.
But there are troubling signs on the horizon. California’s job growth isn’t what it could have been, as indicated by nearly 1.28 million job openings across the state at the end of March. Inflation remains high, with average gas prices in the state hitting a record-high of $6.06 per gallon on Friday. Home sales — which have reached record highs during the pandemic — have slowed following a rapid rise in mortgage rates.
“In the last five decades, a similar collection of economic conditions has occurred six times. Each of those six times a recession has occurred within two years (and often sooner),” the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote earlier this week in assessing California and the nation’s heightened risk of an economic downturn.
Additionally, new unemployment claims in California remain high, with the state accounting for nearly 24 percent of all new jobless claims in the country. California accounts for about 11 percent of the U.S. labor force.
“It’s a picture of a state economy that’s recovering, but I would say in danger of going backward or stalling,” said Michael Bernick, an attorney with Duane Morris and a former director of the California Employment Development Department.
Close to 80 percent of California’s job gains came from its major population centers in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area. Santa Clara and Marin counties had the lowest unemployment rates in the state at 2.1 percent, while rural Imperial County along the U.s.-mexico border had the highest unemployment rate at 11.7 percent. Overall, the unemployment rate declined to 4.6 percent in April.
Statewide, eight of California’s industry sectors added new jobs in April. The biggest increase was in the leisure and hospitality sector, which was the hardest hit during the pandemic because of the restrictions on public gatherings.
The biggest job losses came in construction.