QUICK FACTS: California Employment Report for January 2023
The Center for Jobs and the Economy has released our initial analysis of the January Employment Report from the California Employment Development Department. For additional information and data about the California economy visit www.centerforjobs.org/ca.
Today’s report is an abbreviated version due to the annual revisions in the labor force data. This year’s is more extensive than usual, with the jobs data being revised for 1990-2022, California and Los Angeles MSA labor force data for the same period, and the other counties for 2021. The remaining updates will then be released as part of the February data later this month. The full data revisions along with the full states’ data from US Bureau of Labor Statistics will be available by Monday, and will be analyzed in our detailed report next week.
Unemployment Insurance Claims
Initial unemployment claims in California saw a sharp rise in the week ending March 4, rising 26% from the previous week to 51,026. On a 4-week moving average basis, however, initial claims are generally following last year’s trend and at a reduced level.
As an indication of the state’s weaker overall recovery, California continues to show a significantly higher reliance on this program than the other states. On a 4-week moving average basis, California initial claims as of the week ending March 4 were 21% of the national total. Insured unemployment—a proxy for continuing claims—as of the week ending February 25 were also 21% of the national total.
Federal Trust Fund Debt Now Down to California & New York
With almost all of the other states paying off their pandemic debt—including use of federal pandemic assistance funds specifically earmarked for this purpose—the remaining debt essentially comes down to California and New York. At $18.6 billion as of March 7, California accounts for 69% of the total.
CA Unemployment Rate
4.2%
CA Unemployment
Rate
California's reported unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) in January dipped to 4.2%.
The December numbers show employment up 21,300 for the month. Unemployment rose 23,500. The labor force grew 44,700.
US Unemployment Rate
3.4%
US Unemployment
Rate
The reported national numbers show US unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) improved to 3.4% in January and edged down to 3.6% in February as the national labor force showed a strong gain of 1.3 million workers over the two months. In January, employment was up 894,000, unemployment down 28,000, and the labor force up 866,000. The labor force participation rate improved 0.1 point to 62.4%.
Nonfarm Jobs
96.7k
Nonfarm Jobs
Change
Nonfarm wage and salary jobs were up 96,700, while the annual revisions moved December’s gains up much higher from 16,200 to 124,000.
Nonfarm jobs nationally were up 504,000 in January and 311,000 in February.
Job Openings
1.25 mil
Job Openings
California unfilled job openings at the end of December rose for the fifth straight month to 1.251 million. Nationally, job openings also rose in December to 11.2 million, but then edged down to 10.8 million in January.
Counties with Double-Digit Unemployment
3
Counties with
Unemployment
Above 10%
The number of counties with an unemployment rate at 10% or more edged up to 3. The unadjusted rates ranged from 2.6% in San Mateo to 17.5% in Colusa.
The California Center for Jobs and the Economy provides an objective and definitive source of information pertaining to job creation and economic trends in California.
