California's reported unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) in April was unchanged from March at 8.3%.

The unemployment rate outcome is the result of little change in the other components of the labor force data. The number of unemployed was down by only 3,200, and employment up by only 36,800. Total labor force rose by only 33,600, with little change in the number of workers with jobs or looking for work over the past 3 months. The labor force essentially has remained near the October 2020 level just before the drop resulting from the new round of stay-at-home orders at the end of last year.

The unadjusted numbers actually show the unemployment rate improving from 8.2% in March to 8.1% in April, but only as the result of a 0.3% drop in the labor force participation rate.

The reported national numbers show US unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) increasing 0.1 point to 6.1%. Employment was up 328,000, and unemployment went up as well by 102,000. The change in the unemployment rate, however, stems from a rise in the labor force, as the participation rate improved by 0.2% to 61.7% and the labor force rose by 430,000.

Nonfarm wage and salary jobs rose 101,800 (seasonally adjusted) in April, while the gains in March were revised to 132,400 from the previously reported 119,600. Nonfarm jobs nationally were up 266,000.

These numbers reflect the seasonally adjusted estimates. US Bureau of Labor Statistics so far has revised their adjustment formula three times in an effort to overlay seasonal factors to data that is overwhelmingly driven instead by the pandemic. The underlying unadjusted numbers instead show California gaining a stronger 151,500 nonfarm jobs, and the US doing far better with a gain of 1,089,000. Using the adjusted data, California had 38% of the national jobs gain. Using the more relevant unadjusted, California had 14%.

As of the April numbers, California has regained 48% of the Nonfarm jobs lost to the state shutdowns. The US in total has regained 63%.

California job growth was led by Accommodation & Food Services (40,900), Arts, Entertainment & Recreation (21,900), and Professional, Scientific & Technical Services (15,600). Losses were in 8 industries led by Information (-3,500), Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities (-1,300), and Real Estate & Rental & Leasing (-1,200). The numbers shown in the chart below are the seasonally adjusted numbers.

The number of counties with an unemployment rate at 10% or above eased to 7. The unadjusted rates ranged from 4.6% in Marin to 16.1% in Imperial.

In March, the unemployment rate for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA was 9.8%, ranking the 18th worst unemployment rate among the 369 MSAs in the nation. El Centro MSA (Imperial County) again had the worst unemployment rate in the nation.