August 19, 2019 - SACRAMENTO – California’s unemployment rate tied a record low 4.1 percent in July while the state’s employers added 19,600 nonfarm payroll jobs, according to data released today by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) from two surveys. July’s job gain contributes to an employment expansion in California that is now 113-months long, tying the expansion of the 1960s for the longest on record. California has gained 3,299,000 jobs since the economic expansion began in February 2010, accounting for more than 15 percent of the nation’s job gains over the expansion.

California’s Labor Market, by the Numbers...

• The state’s unemployment rate dipped from 4.2 percent to 4.1 percent¹ in July, once again tying the record low unemployment rate first set in July through December 2018.
• California added an average 29,200 jobs² per month over the entire 113-month long expansion - far more than the 8-9,000 jobs needed monthly to match labor force growth.
• While virtually all states have experienced sustained job growth since the end of the recession, California’s growth has been more broad-based in all but one of the state’s 11 major industries, led by gains in the high-tech jobs of Professional and Business Services and Information, along with increases in Education and Health Services, which support an aging demographic.
• The current expansion differs in comparison with the record expansion between August 1960 and December 1969 which was primarily fueled by manufacturing, particularly in aerospace, and higher population growth (approx. 2.7 percent annual growth in the 1960s compared to 0.8 percent currently).

<sub>1. The unemployment rate comes from a federal survey of 5,100 California households.
2. The nonfarm payroll job numbers come from a separate federal survey of 80,000 California businesses.</sub>

Data Trends about Jobs in the Economy

Total Nonfarm Payroll Jobs (Comes from a monthly survey of approximately 80,000 California businesses that estimates jobs in the economy – seasonally adjusted)

• Month-over – Wage and salary jobs in California’s 11 major industries totaled 17,488,600 in July – a net gain of 19,600 jobs from June. This followed a revised gain of 41,300 jobs in June.
• Year-over – Wage and salary jobs increased by 311,800 jobs (a 1.8 percent increase) from July 2018 to July 2019 compared to the U.S. annual gain of 2,246,000 jobs (a 1.5 percent increase).

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Total Farm jobs – The number of jobs in the agriculture industry decreased by 3,400 jobs from June to 425,900. The agricultural industry has added 3,900 farm jobs since July 2018.

Data Trends about Workers in the Economy

Employment and Unemployment in California (Based on monthly federal survey of 5,100 California households which focuses on workers in the economy)

• Employed – The number of Californians holding jobs in June was 18,583,000, a decrease of 25,000 from June and down 1,000 from the employment total in July of last year.
• Unemployed – The number of unemployed Californians was 804,000 in July, a decrease of 11,000 over the month and up by 1,000 compared with July of last year.

Unemployment Insurance Claims (not seasonally adjusted) In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, there were 308,212 people receiving Unemployment Insurance benefits during the survey week in July compared to 302,156 in June and 323,594 people in July 2018. Concurrently, 39,490 people filed new claims in July which was a month-over increase of 604.