California’s unemployment rate fell to 3.9% in July, the lowest point since 1976, as employers in the nation’s most populous state continued to defy expectations by adding 84,800 new jobs.
High inflation and a cooling housing market have prompted warnings of an economic slowdown as consumers react to soaring prices for everything from food to gasoline.
However, new figures released Friday by the California Employment Development Department show that its labor market has so far remained immune to these problems, as the state has seen month-on-month job growth in 17 of the last 18 months.
Nationwide, jobless rates fell in 14 states in July, rose in three and stayed the same in 33, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
California now has an unemployment rate slightly lower than Texas, but higher than Florida and Alabama.
Ten of California’s 11 industry sectors posted job growth in July, led by computer systems design, , security services and health care.
While California accounts for 11.7% of the nation’s civilian workforce, the state accounted for 16.1% of all new US jobs last month.
This increase in employment comes despite the fact that job openings have decreased in the state and that sales of single-family homes – a major engine of the Californian economy – were down 14.4% in July compared to June and 31.1% from a year earlier, according to the California Association of Realtors.
California lost more than 2.7 million jobs in just two months at the start of the pandemic in 2020, when Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the nation’s statewide stay-at-home order, forcing many businesses to close.