California’s job market, particularly in Southern California, continues to struggle with slowing job growth and rising unemployment, contrasting sharply with the relatively strong national employment landscape. However, slight job growth was observed in sectors such as leisure, hospitality, and information technology.

According to the California Employment Development Department (EDD) on the 30th, the state’s unemployment rate in December reached 5.5%, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous month’s revised rate of 5.4%. This is also 0.4 percentage points higher than the 5.1% recorded in December 2023.

California’s unemployment rate is 1.4 percentage points higher than the national rate of 4.1% in December. Additionally, the state’s 5.5% unemployment rate is the second highest in the nation, trailing only Nevada’s 5.7%.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s unemployment rate skyrocketed to a record high of 16.1% in April 2020 before declining to one-third of that level. However, recent trends indicate a worsening situation.

In December, nonfarm payroll jobs in California totaled 18,129,400, a modest increase of 15,000 from November’s 18,114,400. While layoffs surged at Silicon Valley IT companies, hiring in other sectors partially offset the losses, mitigating the overall decline in jobs.

For the entire year of 2023, California added 180,500 new jobs, a 1% increase. This figure lags behind the national job growth of 2,232,000 (1.4%) during the same period. Employment experts noted that this is a disappointing figure given California’s job market, which exceeds 18 million jobs.

The EDD reported that since the economic recovery began in April 2020, California has added 3,195,000 jobs over 56 months through December, averaging 57,070 jobs per month.

In December, six out of 11 major industries in California saw job growth. The leisure and hospitality sector added the most jobs (7,500), followed by information and communication (4,900), government and public sector (2,200), trade and transportation (1,200), and finance (1,100).

On the other hand, the professional and business services sector lost the most jobs (3,000), followed by manufacturing (1,300) and construction (900).

The number of unemployed Californians in December rose to 1,061,300, an increase of 6,000 from the previous month and 71,000 from the same period last year.

The total number of unemployment insurance (UI) recipients in December was 398,785, up 34,593 from the previous month and 21,923 from the same period last year. New UI claims in December reached 49,015, an increase of 736 from the previous month and 465 from the same period last year.

Southern California’s Los Angeles County and Orange County also showed weak employment trends.

In December, Los Angeles County’s unemployment rate remained at 6.0%, unchanged from the previous month but 0.8 percentage points higher than the 5.2% recorded in the same period last year.

Orange County’s unemployment rate in December was 3.8%, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous month’s 4.0% but unchanged from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate in December was 4.1%, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month’s 4.2% but 0.3 percentage points higher than the 3.8% recorded in December 2023. Nationally, job creation in December reached 256,000, exceeding expert expectations.



<Hwandong Cho>