Southern California Job Growth Runs 66% Below Average

Southern California job creation is running two-thirds below its post-Great Recession norm.

My trusty spreadsheet reviewed employment data from the state Employment Development Department for March, focusing on seasonally adjusted job counts for six local counties. That stats show local bosses employed 9.92 million workers in March.

That translates to Southern California jobs increasing by 43,400 in a year. However, job creation averaged a 126,500 annual pace since 2010. So March’s growth was 66% below the historic pace.

Contrast that job creation with the rest of California. Those 8.23 million workers represented an all-time high, after a 101,300 increase in a year. That growth compares to a 121,600 historic annual pace since 2010, or 17% lower.

Bosses have become cautious about staffing for numerous reasons. There’s the unconventional economic policies of the Trump administration and the ongoing Iranian war. Of course, California’s own business headaches contribute to the hiring slowdown.

Plus, the immigration crackdown has also made a labor shortage in certain industries worse, another limit on the growth of employment.