California added an astounding 59,600 net new jobs in April and has added 450,800 new jobs over the past year.
Hiring rose across most key industry categories, but continues to be led by gains in professional and technical services, which added 12,400 jobs in April. This sector is where the bulk of technology jobs are found. The construction sector is another bright spot, with builders adding 12,000 jobs during the month.
California hiring also picked up in the leisure & hospitality (+6,800 jobs), financial services (+6,700 jobs) and education & health services sectors (+6,400 jobs) in April.
On the downside, employment declined slightly in the information sector, which lost 1,800 jobs, and transportation, warehousing & utilities sector, which lost 1,500 jobs.
April’s stronger employment numbers should allay fears that California’s tech boom is on the verge of collapse. Many of these fears emanate from the slowdown in initial public offerings this year, as well as widely publicized cutbacks at a few well known tech firms.
While a collapse does not appear to be in the cards, some slowing in tech-sector hiring is still evident, even after April’s big overall job gain. Wells Fargo’s quick read on tech-sector employment, which takes the sum of professional & technical services and information services, indicates job growth has slowed over the past six months.
While the moderation in tech-sector hiring is apparent in the Bay Area employment figures, the data for April were mostly positive. The San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara metropolitan area added 6,400 jobs in April, while 4,100 jobs were added in San Francisco. Oakland added 2,600 jobs during the month, while hiring in North Bay was little changed.
The Sacramento area posted a modest decline in employment, losing 1,500 jobs in April.
Southern California also posted strong growth during April. Los Angeles added 12,500 jobs and Orange County added 7,000 jobs during the month.
Hiring also rose solidly in the Inland Empire, which added 3,100 jobs and another 1,700 jobs were added in Ventura County. San Diego added 5,800 jobs in April, marking its strongest monthly gains since July.
California’s unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 5.3% in April. The Golden State’s jobless rate has fallen 1.2 percentage points over the past year, compared to just a 0.4 percentage point drop in the national rate. The improvement in California’s jobless rate has come about primarily due to strong employment growth. Total civilian employment has risen 2.0% over the past year in California, compared to just a 0.8% rise in the civilian labor force.
