California Job Tracker: July 2014

Published July 10, 2014

State Nearly Recovers All Lost Jobs

California barely missed recovering all of the jobs lost during the past seven years in May, but seven of its major metropolitan areas have regained all of the jobs lost during the Recession.

These include the metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) of San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, El Centro, Bakersfield, and Napa. Santa Barbara and Merced fell out of the full recovery club in May due to job losses during the month. Monthly data can be especially volatile for smaller regions. Combined, the seven regions account for about one-quarter of California’s total nonfarm payrolls. (See Figure 8.)

The dates of the pre-Recession peaks varied across the 2006-08 timeframe. Collectively, the seven metropolitan areas have added 168,000 jobs relative to their prior employment highs.  The San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City area has led with a job gain of nearly 76,000 jobs.  San Jose has followed with a large net growth of 60,000 positions.

Certain parts of the state continue to lag behind. Orange County, as of May, was off about 56,000 jobs from its previous peak. If job growth only matches that achieved last year, two years would be required for a full recovery. The Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) also needs to regain another 41,000 jobs to capture its prior peak, a feat that could require about a year. In contrast, Los Angeles, could recover its 41,000 jobs gap in about six months. 

California as a whole should regain its pre-Recession level of nonfarm payrolls in the next month’s report, but that recovery masks a significant divergence in the state’s various sub-regions.

See raw data: Employment numbers by region


Figure 8: 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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