Manufacturing Jobs Down 5 Percent in California

A report from Manufacturers’ New Inc. reveals California lost 5 percent, or 79,000, of its industrial jobs during the past 12 months. Especially hard hit was the southern part of the state. Los Angeles remains the city with the most manufacturing jobs in the state with 85,238, but the Southern California region lost 56,681 jobs, or 5.,5 percent of its nearly 1 million manufacturing jobs, the Business Journal reports.

Northern California lost 22,042, or 3.1 percent, of its 571,348 manufacturing jobs. Most hard hit was San Jose, which lost 8.6 percent of its factory jobs mostly through the closing of a Rockwell Collins factory.

Lumber and wood was the sector with the most job losses as employment dropped 14.2 percent. It is followed by furniture and fixtures 11.1 percent and electronics manufacturing, which lost 3.1 percent of its jobs.