California Job Tracker: August 2014

Published August 11, 2014

State Finally Recoups Lost Jobs

California reached a major milepost with the release of the latest jobs numbers for June. That month saw the state fully recover all of the jobs lost since the prior peak of July 2007. Nonfarm payrolls are now, in fact, 23,000 above that level at an all-time high.

It has been a long and often painful seven years to get to this point. The continuing growth of the population and labor force also mean that many people are still looking for work. Nevertheless, the recovery in California’s economy has been impressive and the state shows solid momentum.

Eight major metropolitan areas (MSAs) in California have fully recovered their prior peak job levels. Fresno broke into the recovery club in June and joins San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, El Centro, Bakersfield, and Napa. (See Figure 2.) The eight regions account for 27 percent of the state's total current employment.

The dates of the pre-Recession peaks varied across the 2006-08 timeframe. Collectively, the eight metropolitan areas have added close to 180,000 jobs relative to their prior employment highs. The San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City area has led with a job gain of nearly 85,000. San Jose has followed with a net growth approaching 60,000 positions.

Certain parts of the state still have a ways to go to catch up. Los Angeles, the state's largest metropolitan area, is down by about 38,000 jobs from its pre-Recession high. If average monthly job growth were to match that experienced during the past year, it would only take about four months for the area to regain its prior peak. In contrast, Orange County, the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties), and the Sacramento area may require a year or more to fully recover.

The state has now pulled away from its prior job peak and appears poised to advance further. Hopefully, the pull will be strong enough to bring all parts of California along.

See raw data: Employment numbers by region


Figure 2: Regions Where Job Recovery Has Met Pre-Recession Peak

(Nonfarm employment, seasonally adjusted)

Regions where job recovery has met pre-Recession peak

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, California Employment Development Department, Fermanian Business and Economic Institute

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