The number of nonfarm payroll jobs in Los Angeles County appeared to hit a record high of nearly 4.66 million in December as employers added 11,000 jobs during the month.

But the county’s unemployment rate remained stuck at 6% in December, unchanged from November. That’s higher than the 5.2% reading from a year ago and much higher than the national average of 4.1%.

These were the key takeaways from the December jobs report for Los Angeles County released Jan. 24 from the state Employment Development Department.

A record high number of jobs?

On the payroll jobs front, while the 4,655,800 nonfarm payroll jobs reported for L.A. County in December appears to be an all-time record high – about 5,000 more jobs than the total reported in December 2019 – the record may be temporary.

A year ago, what appeared to be an all-time record 4,682,000 jobs for December 2023 was initially reported. But then that figure was revised downward by 110,000 jobs in an annual process conducted by Employment Development Department that factors in the latest tax and payroll data submitted by companies. That downward revision was one of the largest in decades and wiped out the record-high milestone; the payroll jobs figure has taken nearly a year to make up for this sudden drop.

The EDD is set to release its revision of the 2024 jobs data in early March.

Whatever the case for the actual numbers, the biggest growth categories in payroll jobs for December compared to November were couriers and messengers, whose ranks rose by nearly 5,000 jobs, followed by a 3,500 job-jump in retail employment.

The motion picture/sound recording industry saw a gain of 3,000 jobs in December compared to November, a bright note in an industry that has come under considerable pressure over the last couple of years. But that gain is likely temporary as the fires earlier this month are expected to lead to significant drops in film and television industry employment.

On the negative side of the ledger, the private education sector lost the most jobs between November and December – about 2,200 jobs – as school terms wound down for the calendar year in December. The construction and manufacturing sectors also reported declines of 1,000 jobs and 800 jobs, respectively.

Gain of 45,000 jobs for all of 2024

For the calendar year 2024, total nonfarm employment in L.A. County increased by 45,600 jobs, or exactly 1%, when looking at the December figures compared to December 2023. That’s about half the level of 12-month job gains the county experienced in earlier stages of the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The biggest increase by far for all of 2024 was seen in the health care/social assistance sector, which posted a gain of 30,700 jobs. Accommodation/food services was next with a gain of 9,300 jobs, followed by private education (up 4,900 jobs).

The manufacturing sector, which has been in long-term decline, lost the most jobs last year, shedding 11,700 payroll jobs. The December total of 308,000 jobs is down a whopping 63% from the March 1990 high of 834,000 manufacturing jobs.

The construction sector was the only other one to post a drop of more than 1,000 jobs for the entirety of last year, shedding 1,100 jobs.

Unemployment stubbornly high

Turning to the unemployment numbers, the 6% figure for L.A. County in December was the highest since 6.3% in February 2022, when the county was still trying to emerge from the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Employment Development Department also released a breakout of December unemployment rates by city, though unlike the countywide average, these are not adjusted for seasonal factors.

The December rates for the two largest cities in the county – Los Angeles and Long Beach – were 5.8% and 5.7% respectively, each down a tenth of a percentage point from November.

Among cities with labor forces exceeding 10,000, Lomita had the lowest seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate of 2.3% in December, while Calabasas had the highest rate at 8.1%.