January State and Local Employment Report

The Employment Development Department (EDD) released the state and local employment reports for the month of January. This report incorporated revised industry employment data. Each year in March, employment data are updated to reflect additional data inputs and improved estimation techniques.

Total California nonfarm employment increased by 67,300 jobs over the month in seasonally adjusted (SA) terms. This followed a gain of 19,800 jobs (revised) in December.

The year-over-year change showed an increase of 498,000 jobs (SA). This equated to a growth rate of 3.2%, outpacing the January national increase of 2.3%.  California’s private sector added 447,500 jobs (an increase of 3.4%) over the year, while employment in the public sector rose by 2.1% (50,500 jobs).

Ten of the 11 super-sectors added jobs over the year to January: construction; manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; information; financial activities; professional and business services; educational and health services; leisure and hospitality; other services; and government for a gain of 498,300 jobs. Professional and business services posted the largest gain on a numerical basis, adding 111,900 jobs (up 4.7%), while construction posted the large gain in percentage terms, increasing by 5.7% or 37,800 jobs.

The only sector to record a decline over the year was mining and logging, down 300 jobs or 1.0%.

The historical revisions included in the January release showed that California’s economy added significantly more jobs in 2014 than initially reported. Before the revisions, the EDD reported employment increased over the year in 2014 by 336,150 jobs (up by 2.2%). After the revisions, nonfarm job counts rose to 461,850, an increase of 3.0% compared with 2013.

California’s unemployment rate fell to 6.9% in January, down from 7.1% in December and down from the year ago rate of 8.1%. The state’s civilian labor force rose by 0.1% over the month and by 1.3% over the year. This means the unemployment rate in California is falling because the state is adding jobs as opposed to workers dropping out of the labor force. The state’s labor force participation rate was 62.0% in January, versus the national rate of 62.9%.

County highlights:

(Note: With the exception of the Los Angeles unemployment rate, county level numbers are not seasonally adjusted, which means there can be large month-to-month fluctuations in jobs counts. A truer picture of how local labor markets are faring is revealed by focusing on the year-over-year numbers. Annual trends “correct” for the seasonal factors that influence certain industry sectors over the course of the year.)

§  In Los Angeles County, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.9%, down from 8.0% in December and below the year ago rate of 8.8%. Total nonfarm employment rose by 62,100 jobs over the month and by 98,200 jobs over the year, an increase of 2.4%.

Educational and health services reported the largest year-over rise in employment January with an increase of 26,300 jobs. Most of the increase was due to the addition of 20,100 (76% of the total) health care jobs over the past 12 months.

Also posting significant gains was the leisure and hospitality sector where payrolls expanded by 23,400 jobs. Employment in trade, transportation and utilities was up by 21,800 jobs; and government increased by 11,500 jobs.

The largest year-over decline in employment was in information, which suffered a net loss of 3,700 jobs. Within the information sector, employment in motion picture and sound recording fell by 5,800 jobs but was partially offset by small gains in other sub-industries. Manufacturing gave up 900 jobs, and mining and logging was down by 100 jobs.

§  In January, the unemployment rate in Orange County was 5.0%, up from 4.7% in December but below the year-ago figure of 6.0% Nonfarm payroll jobs declined by 21,200 over the month but was up by 50,500 over the year (an increase of 3.5%).

§  In the Riverside-San Bernardino area, the unemployment rate in January was 7.3% compared with 7.0% in December and the year ago rate of 9.0%. Nonfarm payrolls fell by 13,900 jobs over the month but were up by 52,600 jobs over the year. This represented an increase of nearly 4.2%.

§  In Ventura County, the unemployment rate was 6.4%; down from the year ago estimate of 7.5%. Last month, total nonfarm employment increased by 1,600 jobs. Over the year ending in January, the number of nonfarm jobs in Ventura County was up by 3,600 (up 1.2%).

To sum up, the California labor market remained on track in January while the unemployment rate fell to 6.9%, the lowest rate since may 2009. Moreover, the annual revisions that accompanied this release show that statewide job growth last year was considerably faster than was previously reported.

Sources:  http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/