California hits record low 4 percent unemployment rate

September was a great month for California’s labor market with the unemployment rate falling to a record low 4 percent, according the state’s Employment Development Department.

EDD reported in a Statewide News Release Friday that California employers added 21,300 nonfarm payroll jobs last month, contributing to employment rates the state hasn’t seen since the 1970s. On average, California employers added 29,120 jobs over each of the past 115 months, which breaks the all-time record.

State of California Employment Development Department The California unemployment rate dropped to a record low 4 percent in September 2019.

The state trend is in line with the nation’s labor market reporting. According to EDD, the national unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 percent in September.

Job expansion was concentrated in professional and business service industries with strong gains for employment service providers and notable increases in manufacturing, education and health service industries.

State of California Employment Development Department As of September, 2019, the California job market has made gains over 115 months.

The unemployment rate and job growth numbers represented in the EDD’s report are seasonally adjusted and were derived from two different surveys. Breaking rates down by county, the Bay Area labor market is reflecting positive trends with average unemployment rates in all nine counties well below the state average.

Across the Bay Area, Solano County came in with the highest September unemployment rate at 3.1 percent and San Mateo County recorded the lowest rate at 1.7 percent.


CORRECTION: A previous version of this article mistakenly stated that “California employers added 21,3000 nonfarm payroll jobs last month.” The total has been corrected to reflect the accurate 21,300 added jobs.

Last modified October 21, 2019 2:23 pm

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  • Are the hundreds of thousands homeless people in SF, LA etc. counted in the "unemployed" or you just don't count them? A few hundred thousand to add there....

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