L.A. County’s job-creation machine continued in full gear in November as employers in the county added 32,000 jobs to their payrolls and pushed the total jobs number over 4.7 million for the first time ever, according to state figures released on Dec. 22.
The news from the state Employment Development Department was not so rosy on the unemployment front, however. The county’s unemployment rate ticked up once again to 5.3% in November from 5.2% in October. After hovering in the 4.9% to 5% range for much of the year, the unemployment rate has in the last three months pushed higher out of that range.
The unemployment figures come from a survey of households in Los Angeles County, while the payroll jobs figures come from a sampling of employer payroll data submitted to the state. For the past three months, these sets of figures have been moving in different directions.
In December, the county’s labor force fell by 19,000 to exactly 5 million from November’s level, accounting for nearly all of the decrease in the number of people saying they were employed.
As for the payroll jobs figure, the total of 4,717,900 jobs posted in November was the highest ever recorded, eclipsing the 4,650,800 mark from pre-pandemic Dec. 2019.
To achieve November’s net gain of 32,000 of payroll jobs from October, employers in just about every sector of the local economy reported net additions of jobs, led by a seasonal gain of 10,000 jobs in the retail sector as store owners geared up for the holiday season.
The Employment Development Department also released a seasonally adjusted payroll employment total that adjusts for seasonal factors such as this; that figure showed a gain of nearly 14,000 jobs.
The other sector with major job gains in November was motion picture/sound recording, which posted a net gain of 8,000 jobs from October. That gain reflected the settlement of the Writers Guild of America strike in late September. Another gain in this sector is likely with next month’s release of the December jobs report, which should reflect thousands of actors returning to their jobs after the settlement of their strike last month.
Other significant payroll job gainers in November were: government (up nearly 6,000 jobs); private education and health services (each up about 2,000 jobs) and financial activities (up 1,200 jobs).
Only the professional/business services sector reported a net drop in jobs in November, shedding about 1,800 jobs, mostly in the administrative and support jobs subsector.
For the 12 months ending in November, employers in the county added a net 77,000 jobs to their payrolls for a gain of about 1.7%. The biggest gainers over that 12-month period were health care/social assistance (up 46,900 jobs) and eating/drinking places (up 21,600 jobs).
Not surprisingly given the strikes that roiled the sector this year, the motion picture/sound recording industry saw the biggest net drop in jobs, down 26,100. That was followed by a net drop of 21,600 jobs in the temporary employment agency subsector.
The manufacturing sector continued its long-term gradual slide, losing a net 5,500 jobs during the 12-month period ending in November.
Turning to the unemployment side of the ledger, the county’s unemployment rate of 5.3% in November was up from 5.2% in October and up from 4.7% for November of last year. The rate was also higher than the statewide average for November of 4.9% and much higher than the nationwide average of 3.7%.
The Employment Development Department also releases a breakout of the unemployment rates by city, though unlike the countywide figure, these city rates are not seasonally adjusted. The county’s two largest cities, Los Angeles and Long Beach, posted unemployment rates in November of 5.3% and 4.7% respectively.
Among other cities with labor forces exceeding 10,000, Lomita had the lowest unemployment rate in November at 2.0%, while Burbank had the highest rate at 7.3%. Burbank, of course, is home to entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. and other studio lots that suffered production shutdowns during the strikes.
