Los Angeles County’s unemployment rate dropped to 10.1% in August from 10.4% in July as many schools started their academic year, according to data released Sept. 17.

The state Employment Development Department said 4,000 more county residents reported they were working last month. 

But a major factor in the drop in unemployment was the number of people in the labor force, which dropped by 9,000 to just under 5.1 million. That indicates a number of people who had previously been looking for jobs either gave up, returned to school or moved away.

A year ago, the county’s unemployment rate was a stratospheric 17.2% as the region was only just starting to open up after the initial pandemic lockdown. 

But the rate still has a long way to go before reaching August 2019’s pre-pandemic level of 4.4%. And L.A. County’s unemployment rate for August is still substantially higher than the 7.5% recorded statewide and the 5.2% nationwide figure.

EDD also released a breakdown of unemployment rates for cities within the county. The two largest cities, Los Angeles and Long Beach, posted rates of 9.7% and 10.2%, respectively. Among cities with at least 10,000 people in the labor force, Compton had the highest unemployment rate of 13.6% while Lomita had the lowest at 5.2%.

Meanwhile, employers in L.A. County reported a net 55,500 more jobs on their payrolls in August than in July. 

About 42,000 of those jobs came from the education sector as many schools started their academic year, most with at least some in-person classes. Public K-12 educational institutions added 40,000 jobs to their payrolls while private education, including private colleges and universities, added roughly 2,000. 

Another major boost is expected next month as more colleges and universities resume after summer recess.

EDD releases another payroll jobs figure that adjusts for seasonal factors, especially in the education sector. That seasonally adjusted figure for August showed payroll job growth from July of 78,000, the largest number of jobs added in roughly a year.

Outside of the education sector, the motion picture and sound recording sector added 6,000 jobs to reach 107,000, the biggest gain for the entertainment content industry since last October and a sign that film and television production is gaining momentum. But the industry has only recovered about 22% of the jobs lost in the pandemic shutdown.

Only one sector reported job losses in August compared to July: real estate, which shed 1,500 jobs to just under 80,000.

The 4.25 million total payroll jobs for August reflected a gain of about 400,000 jobs since the worst of the pandemic lockdown in April 2020. But it’s down about 370,000 jobs from February 2020, the peak month before the lockdown, and down 380,000 from August 2019, showing the county still has a long way to go to reach pre-pandemic payroll job levels.

And since the EDD survey was taken in the second week of August, a resurgence of the pandemic took hold; anecdotally at least, that appears to have reversed some of the hiring trends of previous months. That slowdown may show up in the September numbers to be released next month.

Since August of last year, the county gained a net 275,000 payroll jobs for an increase of 6.9%, a faster growth rate than the 6.1% reported between July 2020 and this past July.

The accommodation/food services sector gained the most payroll jobs over the past year at 71,000, followed by arts/entertainment/recreation (up 37,000 jobs) and professional and business services (up 32,000 jobs). The motion picture and sound recording industry gained 19,000 payroll jobs over the past year.

Manufacturing was the only sector to report a drop in payroll jobs over the past 12 months, shedding about 1,100 jobs. This marks a return to pre-pandemic trends as manufacturing was frequently the only major job sector to record consistent year-over-year declines in payroll jobs.