Beacon Economics provides a good roundup of mixed but generally positive May employment news for California. The state’s nonfarm job growth outpaced the nation by “expanding by 3.0% over the past year compared to a more modest 2.2% growth rate in the U.S. overall.”
A mixed signal came from a surge of nearly 72,000 additions to the labor force–a positive “sign of worker’s increased optimism about their employment prospects”–which ticked up the state’s unemployment rate from 6.3 to 6.4 percent in May.
With “consumers are growing more comfortable spending income and making larger retail purchases” retail trade employment added 8,600 positions.
Professional and Business Services employment surged, with strong growth in Scientific, and Technical Services, driven by “venture capital money” more of which “has been raised in the state than at any time since 2000.”
Despite losses in the farm sector, “to date, the overall California economy has yet to suffer serious setbacks from the drought.”
Check out Beacon’s full report including charts and talbes
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