California’s Job Growth Is Leaning on Health Care as Information and Professional Services Shed Workers
California’s August jobs report looks strong at the top line, but the details show a lopsided recovery. The state Employment Development Department said on Sept. 18 that California added 39,400 payroll jobs, more than 24% of the nation’s 162,000 gain, while the unemployment rate held at 5.1%, its lowest since December 2023 and 0.4 points below a year ago. Since January the state has added 114,700 jobs, or 17.8% of national growth, and July’s estimated job loss was revised down to 15,700. Leisure and hospitality added 7,800 jobs in August, while agriculture shed 3,900. California Adds 39,400 Jobs in August +2
The gains are concentrated in one sector. Private education and health services added 18,600 jobs in August and 131,500 over the past year, more than double the next-best sector, leisure and hospitality (+45,700). Total payrolls rose only 138,500 over the same 12 months, a 0.77% increase versus 0.38% nationally, so that single sector accounts for nearly all of the state’s net growth. Trade, transportation and utilities added 26,400 jobs over the year. EIN Presswire
Other parts of the economy are shrinking. Year over year, information lost 22,600 jobs, professional and business services 15,500, financial activities 13,000, manufacturing 10,100 and construction 6,900. In August, professional and business services had the state’s largest monthly loss (1,800), which EDD said ran against the usual seasonal pattern and centered on legal, accounting, tax-preparation and bookkeeping work and computer-related fields. Government added 9,800 jobs as the school year began, though it is down 3,600 from a year ago.
A caution on the unemployment rate: the household survey shows the labor force down 351,100 and employment down 246,700 from last August, while the number of unemployed fell 104,400. The lower rate therefore reflects fewer people counted in the labor force as well as fewer people out of work. That survey samples only about 4,400 households, so it is noisier than the payroll count. Unemployment insurance data point the same direction as the headline rate: 332,382 people certified for benefits in the August sample week, down from 346,151 in July and 367,379 a year earlier.
Regional gaps remain wide. Preliminary, not seasonally adjusted county figures put the statewide rate at 5.4%, with San Mateo (4.0%), San Francisco (4.2%) and Santa Clara (4.3%) near the bottom and Imperial County (21.9%), Tulare (10.4%) and Kern (8.4%) near the top. Bloomberg reported this week that wealth from the AI boom is overshadowing layoffs and an uncertain job market for laid-off tech workers in San Francisco. Bloomberg
What to watch: The September report is scheduled for Oct. 16. The test is whether health-care hiring keeps offsetting losses in information, finance and professional services, and whether the labor force stops shrinking.
Sources: California EDD release (einpresswire.com/article/943423697/california-adds-39-400-jobs-in-august); Bloomberg (bloomberg.com, Sept. 17, 2026)