CALIFORNIA – The California Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) published a report, July 1, with findings that California’s private sector labor market is showing broad weakness.
Private industry lost 154,000 jobs while the public sector gained 361,000 jobs.
The analyst says since the beginning of 2022, the state’s labor markets have grown modestly but shown some signs of weakness.
“A closer look at this period unveils a more worrisome trend: large and mounting private-sector job losses that have been offset by continued hiring in public sector (and publicly supported) fields,” said LAO analyst Chas Alamo.
The gain in government jobs since September 2022 is 120,000. Publicly supported jobs that include the Health Care and Social Assistance industries had a gain of 241,000 jobs.
Tech and finance sectors had the largest declines
The state’s technology — formally referred to as Information, and finance sectors have seen the largest percentage declines.
During peak employment post pandemic, the California tech industry had 531,100 jobs. Job losses since the peak are 98,000 or 16%.
Finance had 500,000 which now shows a loss of 43,000 jobs or 8%.
Photo credit: LAONational private sector continues to grow
According to the report, these industries that have shown job losses since 2022 in California, have continued to expand nationally.
Professional services that include legal services, accounting, payroll services, architectural, engineering, and graphic design have had a 7% increase nationwide. In California there has been a 1% increase.
Information had a 1% increase nationwide. California had a 12% decrease.
Real estate and leasing had a 1% increase nationally while California had a 0%.
Finance and insurance had a 2% increase nationwide. California has an 8% decrease.
California’s divergence from the nationwide numbers can be attributed to rising costs of living, including high utility rates driven by green energy policies and increased minimum wages.
These policies have led to higher operational costs for businesses, resulting in layoffs and slowed hiring.
To read the full report visit https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/806
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