Southern California bosses grew their staffs to record levels this summer, even though job creation is running at almost half the pace we\u2019ve seen in the past.<\/p>\n
My trusty spreadsheet looked at state job counts released Friday, Sept. 18, and found there were 10 million jobs in August across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura and Imperial counties. These stats are adjusted for seasonal hiring swings.<\/p>\n
August is a perfect example of an economy that\u2019s sending many mixed messages.<\/p>\n
The month marked the region\u2019s third record-high job count so far this year. But the 47,000 workers added over 12 months is far slower than the 80,400 annual growth rate Southern California has averaged during the past 10 years.<\/p>\n
Yes, there have never been more jobs in Southern California. But the caveat to the good news is that local bosses are adding jobs at a pace that\u2019s 42% below average \u2013 and that\u2019s bad news for job seekers.<\/p>\n
Locally speaking<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at this mixed message at the local level.<\/p>\n
Across the region\u2019s six job markets, five saw an increase in workers in August, and one was unchanged.\u00a0Yet, job creation trailed 10-year norms in four of the six markets.<\/p>\n
The Inland Empire was the farthest below par. Its 1.72 million jobs were up 7,300 in a year. But historically speaking, 31,500 jobs were added yearly since 2016. So, the region\u2019s job creation is running 77% below average.<\/p>\n
Next weakest was Orange County. It had 1.69 million jobs, up 6,300 in a year compared to its historical average of 10,400 jobs created per year. So, O.C.\u2019s pace is 39% below its 10-year norm.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles County had 4.62 million workers, up 17,400 in a year. But its 10-year pace has been 21,000 added yearly, leaving August 17% below par.<\/p>\n
In Ventura County, its 319,000 jobs remained flat over the year. Since 2016, however, 1,900 jobs have been created annually.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s above par?<\/p>\n
San Diego County had 1.58 million jobs, up 14,800 in a year. That topped its 10-year pace of 14,600 added yearly.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s Imperial County. Its 60,900 jobs were up 1,200 in a year. Job creation ran 900 yearly, so that\u2019s 33% above average.<\/p>\n
California dreaming<\/p>\n
Statewide employment also crawls ahead.<\/p>\n
There were a record 18.2 million jobs across California in August \u2013 up 138,500 workers in a year.\u00a0Compare that to 164,600 jobs added each year over the past decade.<\/p>\n
So, Golden State job creation is running 16% below the state\u2019s 10-year norm.<\/p>\n
Geographically speaking, the north had a better employment picture as artificial intelligence investments boost the Bay Area economy.<\/p>\n
Counties outside of Southern California account for only 45% of all jobs statewide. But those counties accounted for 66% of California\u2019s employment growth over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n
Top the nation<\/p>\n
Despite some sluggishness, California\u2019s overall job creation outpaced the nation in August.<\/p>\n
American bosses employed a record 159 million, up 603,000 workers in a year. Since 2016, U.S. jobs have averaged 1.44 million per year of growth.\u00a0So, U.S. job creation is 58% below its 10-year norm.<\/p>\n
Ponder California\u2019s slice of the U.S. job market. The state represented 11% of all American employment in August \u2013 but created 23% of all new U.S. jobs in the past year.<\/p>\n
Or contemplate California\u2019s outperformance by eyeballing one-year rates of change. Southern California jobs are up 0.5%. Statewide employment grew 0.8%. But the nation? It\u2019s up only 0.3%.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com<\/a><\/p>\n Try Jonathan Lansner\u2019s Substack collection of economic trends. CLICK HERE<\/a>!<\/p>\n August\u2019s most popular Southern California real estate stories \u2026<\/p>\n No. 1: Where is OC\u2019s hottest homebuying neighborhood? <\/a><\/p>\n No. 2: 338-unit affordable housing complex breaks ground in Tustin <\/a><\/p>\n No. 3: Peek inside this Newport Coast estate that sold for $39M <\/a><\/p>\n No. 4: Enderle Center sold, Campo on 17th moves ahead in Tustin <\/a><\/p>\n No. 5: Rents rise in just 22% of SoCal. See which cities got hikes <\/a><\/p>\n No. 6: Home prices dip in 38% of OC. How did your ZIP do? <\/a><\/p>\n No. 7: LA-OC\u2019s worst-paying jobs: Can those wages pay the rent? <\/a><\/p>\n No. 8: A-OC homes still \u2018unaffordable\u2019 even with a 0% mortgage <\/a><\/p>\n No. 9: Corona del Mar retail center trades hands, a first in 80 years <\/a><\/p>\n No. 10:\u00a0California<\/a>\u00a0housing is frozen, but not underwater <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southern California bosses grew their staffs to record levels this summer, even though job creation is running at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,2356,101,134],"class_list":["post-853655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-california","tag-economy","tag-jobs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}