Employers in Los Angeles County added 9,000 jobs to their payrolls in May to hit a new record high, despite the writers’ strike that has paralyzed much of the region’s film and television production industry, according to state figures released June 16.
Meanwhile, the county’s unemployment rate edged back up to 5.0% in May from 4.9% in April as more people entered the labor force looking for work, according to the figures from the state Employment Development Department. The rate has hovered in this narrow range for most of this year.
But in May, it was the resilient payroll jobs picture that took center stage. Employers in the county recorded a total of 4,645,000 jobs on their payrolls, up 9,000 from April and 4,800 more jobs than the previous record high in November of last year. The county now has roughly 25,000, or 0.5%, more payroll jobs than the pre-pandemic peak reached in February 2020.
This impressive performance came in spite of the writers’ strike that began on May 2 and shows no sign of coming to a resolution anytime soon. The EDD figures show that payroll jobs in the motion picture/sound recording sector dropped by 4,600 between April and May, making that sector the biggest jobs loser.
Two other sectors – manufacturing and wholesale trade – each lost about 2,000 jobs in May compared to April.
But these losses were offset by the 9,200 jobs added in the accommodation/food services sector in May compared to April. On top of this came gains in health care/social assistance (up 4,200 jobs) and public sector K-12 education (up 2,400 jobs).
For the 12 months ending in May, employers in the county added 98,000 jobs, for a growth rate of 2.2%. The health care/social assistance sector was the biggest gainer, adding 41,000 jobs, followed by accommodation/food services, which increased by 27,000 jobs over those 12 months.
The sector losing the most payroll jobs for the 12 months ending in May was motion picture/sound recording, with a drop of 14,700 jobs, though about one third of that drop came in May with the writers’ strike. The construction sector shed 4,700 payroll jobs, while manufacturing employers slashed a net 3,300 jobs.
Turning to the county’s unemployment rate, the state figures show a major driver of the slight increase to 5% in May was an influx of 7,000 Los Angeles County residents into the labor force, bringing the total to 5,002,000. An increase generally means more people are entering the labor force looking for work.
The 5% unemployment rate was higher than the 4.7% recorded in May of last year. But over the longer term, the county’s unemployment rate is in a much better place than it was four years ago during the pandemic-induced economic shutdown in May 2020, when it reached a modern era high of 21.1%.
Nonetheless, the county’s unemployment rate was still significantly higher than the 4.5% statewide average for May and much higher than the 3.7% national average for that month.
The Employment Development Department also releases a breakout of the unemployment rates by cities. For the county’s two largest cities, Los Angeles and Long Beach, the unemployment rates were 5.0% and 4.9% respectively. The lowest unemployment rate among cities with a labor force exceeding 10,000, was 2% in Lomita, while the highest was 6.9% in Calabasas.
For cities in the San Fernando, Conejo, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, Calabasas once again had the highest unemployment rate at 6.9%, exceeding Burbank’s 6.4%, Lancaster’s 6.3%, and Palmdale’s 6.2%.
On the low end for cities with workforces exceeding 10,000 was San Fernando at 3.5%, followed by Santa Clarita at 4.5%, Glendale at 4.7% and Los Angeles at 5%.