California Shows Gradual Growth in the Job Market

California has a long history as having one of the most difficult economies and lowest job markets in the country. While it is a slow growth, there is some gradual growth in the last few months for the west coast state, including over 13,000 new jobs in December, according to The Los Angeles Times. It isn’t a great rise, but considering California has one of the highest unemployment rates, it is still considered decent.

One good thing is that these most recent jobs guided California from an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent in November 2013, down to 8.3 percent unemployment in December 2013, according to the California Employment Development Department. There are growths in jobs in a few different industries, though part of the difference in unemployment is due to workers completely leaving their job seeking duties behind. Many people are no longer looking for work and simply replying on their personal savings, dipping into retirement accounts, or going toward unemployment benefits since they have become discouraged with not being able to find stable work.

Some of them include baby boomers who instead of leaving the job market voluntarily, left by force. Others are choosing to stay in school instead of looking for work, or relying on their disability insurance. Many of the California residents leaving their job search in order to advance their education will eventually be going back toward looking for a job, but likely in a different level or completely different industry altogether.

Among the different industries with job growth, business services and professional services had the most substantial jump at over 8,000 new jobs. Next was leisure and hospitality with an increase of 7,800 jobs, followed by transportation, trade and utilities with 5,800 new jobs. Unfortunately manufacturing had the biggest drop in jobs with a loss of 6,000 jobs and another 4,000 jobs were lost within the other services category, often including services like salon workers and auto mechanics. Information industries in California saw a decrease of more than 2,000 jobs as well.

Some industries were harder to pinpoint because while they lost a good deal of jobs, the industry themselves are growing or doing better. For example, the construction industry was hit hard due to recent economic struggles in California, losing nearly 2,000 jobs. But the industry is doing well and outlooks for construction look good for the next decade.

Different regions of California also show different job rates, with Los Angeles County adding more non-farm jobs, and a lower unemployment rate in Orange County than many other counties in the state.

Where can you find the most California jobs? Click here.