California’s Unemployment Rate Increased by 0.1% in January 2023
Update Provided by
Employment Development Department
Employers added 96,700 nonfarm payroll jobs
For the full January 2023 labor statistics news release which includes local data and industry job trends, please visit the EDD website.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The employment data for the month of January 2023 is taken from the survey week including Jan. 12th. Data for the month of February is scheduled for release on March 24, 2023. These statistics reflect updates to 2022 monthly data performed during EDD’s annual benchmark process.
SACRAMENTO – California’s unemployment rate crept up slightly for the month of January 2023 to 4.2 percent1 despite the state’s employers adding 96,7000 nonfarm payroll jobs2 to the economy, according to data released today by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) from two surveys.
California’s Labor Market, by the Numbers…
- Updated data shows California fully recovered its nearly 2.8 million pandemic related job losses earlier in June 2022 rather than October 2022 as originally estimated, and the peak unemployment rate of 16.1% hit earlier in April 2020 rather than May.
- Of the 517,000 jobs gained nationally in January 2023, California accounted for 96,700, or nearly 19 percent, of the nation’s overall non-farm job growth.
- Eight of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in January with Government (+46,000) leading the way with strong gains in State Government Educational Services, boosted by the end of the University of California academic workers strike in December.
- Leisure & Hospitality (+20,800) also enjoyed an extremely strong month-over gain thanks, in part, to very good gains in not just Gambling Industries, but also in Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Talent and Sports Agents.
- Construction (-7,300) suffered the California’s largest month-over job loss for January 2023 due, in part, to the severe winter storms and extreme weather across the state, as well as from reductions in the Specialty Trade Contractors subsector.
1.The unemployment rate comes from a separate federal survey of 5,100 California households.
2.The nonfarm payroll job numbers come from a federal survey of 80,000 California businesses.