California's job growth slows amid rising unemployment, economic uncertainty
OAKLAND, Calif. - The current U.S. workforce stands at 165.5 million, with 19.5 million in California.
California's unemployment rate from a year ago rose to 5.4% from 5.1%, second highest only to Nevada, and well above the nation's current rate of 4.2%.
"So, it's not merely higher than it was a year ago, but our job growth has slowed. We gained only 11,000 jobs in the past month," said employment lawyer and former EDD Director Michael Bernick.
Without substantial gains in healthcare jobs, the Golden State might have had no gains at all, Bernick said.
To look forward, one must look back.
When Obama took office, unemployment was 7.6%. When Trump took over, he inherited 4.7%. When Biden took over, he inherited 6.4%. Trump will inherit the current 4.2%.
California lost 5,500 jobs in October, bringing unemployment rate to 5.4%
The overall U.S. unemployment rate is hovering at a historically low 4.1%.
Bernick said the outlook for 2025 nationally and in California depends on three major issues.
"These are the three forces: tariffs, immigration, and government spending. I think [those] are likely to have the greatest impacts. We just don't know what these impacts are because we don't know the details yet," said Bernick.
That uncertainty worries many employers, businesses, whole industries, and stock markets that depend on imports, exports, migrant labor, and government contracts.
"Tariffs, I would say, how they’re structured will be a main impact both on employment and inflation," said Bernick.
Artificial intelligence, though it increasingly affects the country every day, is not the solution to unlimited jobs.
"In 2025, I would say 2026, we're gonna continue to see, in terms of direct job generation, a very small number," said Bernick.
Though job openings in California have dropped by 100,000 to some 620,000 available positions, that’s what it was before the pandemic when things were booming.