IMPORTANT NOTE: The employment data for the month of June 2020 is taken from the survey week including June 12. Data for the survey week including July 12 is scheduled for release on August 21.

July 18, 2020 - SACRAMENTO – California’s unemployment rate improved to 14.9 percent in June as the state’s employers added a record 558,200 jobs ¹, according to data released on Friday by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) from two surveys. This comes after the previous record gain of 134,200 jobs in May and record losses in the months preceding that, in a data series that dates back to 1990. California has now regained more than a quarter (26.4 percent) of the 2,625,500 nonfarm jobs lost during March and April as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

• Despite the state’s unemployment rate of 14.9 percent² being noticeably lower than the record high of 16.4 percent from April and May, it is still far higher than the 12.3 percent it was during the height of the Great Recession (March, October, and November 2010).
• The industry sectors that were most affected by the shutdown due to the pandemic tended to have the largest job gains in June.
• Nine of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs last month. Leisure & Hospitality (+292,500) had the largest job gain due to growth in accommodation and food services, which benefited from statewide re-openings of bars and dine-in restaurants. The sector has regained more than one-third of its job losses from March and April.
• Percentage-wise, Construction has had the largest rebound since the historic losses in March and April, recovering 68 percent of jobs lost within the sector.
• Government (-36,300) had the largest decline in June with job losses in state and local government educational services.

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

Data trends about Jobs in the Economy

Total Nonfarm Payroll Jobs

This information comes from a monthly survey of approximately 80,000 California businesses that estimates jobs in the economy – seasonally adjusted.

• Month-over – Total nonfarm jobs in California’s 11 major industries totaled 15,671,400 in June – a net gain of 558,200 jobs from May. This followed a revised gain of 134,200 jobs in May.
• Year-over – Total nonfarm jobs decreased by 1,740,600 jobs (a 10 percent decrease) from June 2019 to June 2020 compared to the U.S. annual loss of 12,957,000 jobs (an 8.6 percent decrease).

Total Farm jobs – The number of jobs in the agriculture industry decreased by 8,500 jobs from May to 313,100. The agricultural industry has lost 113,000 farm jobs since June 2019.

Data trends about Workers in the Economy

Employment and Unemployment in California

This information is based on a 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 16,117,000, an increase of 653,300 from May, but down 2,451,900 from the employment total in June of last year.
• Unemployed – The number of unemployed Californians was 2,831,000 in June, a decrease of 212,100 over the month, but up by 2,050,000 compared with June of last year.

Unemployment Insurance Claims (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

The following data is from a sample week that includes the 19th of each month: In related data that figures into the state’s unemployment rate, there were 2,778,771 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the June 2020 sample week. That compares to 2,154,692 people in May 2020 and 307,704 people in June 2019. Concurrently, 284,300 initial claims were processed in the June 2020 sample week, which was a month-over increase of 80,712 claims from May 2020 and a year-over increase of 239,732 claims from June 2019.