The region’s unemployment rate dipped
“Unemployment in California has now fallen to its lowest rate in over six years,” said Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “We’ve been outpacing the nation in job growth. In September we added jobs at a year-over-year rate of 1.9 percent. The U.S. has hovered around 1.7 to 1.8 percent. This is the first time in months that we’ve been below the 2 percent threshold.”
Kleinhenz wasn’t overly concerned about September’s job losses.
“I would imagine that was an aberration,” he said. “We’ve been averaging about 22,000 jobs added month-to-month over the last three months and about the same since the beginning of the year. I would caution against any alarm about the 9,800 job losses because that number will be subject to revision, and we do bounce around a little bit from time to time.”
L.A. County employers added 27,900 jobs last month and the region’s unemployment rate dipped to 8 percent, down from a revised 8.1 percent in August and far below 9.7 percent a year ago. The county added 73,800 jobs over the past 12 months at an annual growth rate of 1.8 percent.
Government posted the biggest gain for September with 15,900 new jobs. That was followed by education and health services (7,400), professional and business services (3,800), transportation and utilities (1,900), construction (1,500) and manufacturing (500).
Monthly declines were seen in financial activities, leisure and hospitality and information services, among others.
Delphine Meagher, office manager for Delmari Builders, a Santa Clarita business that specializes in kitchen remodels and first- and second-story additions, said their business has been slow in the wake of the Great Recession.