July 2015 Jobs Report: Strong & Weak Sectors Locally

The Employment Development Department (EDD) released the statewide California jobs report for July earlier today. (We discuss the overall state jobs report in more detail here.) With the statewide data release each month, EDD also releases a wealth of data on regions and counties across the state. In this post, we will look at the July non-seasonally-adjusted jobs data for a few regions across the state, highlighting some of the strongest and weakest job growth sectors in each over the past year. These listings display some of the similarities and differences in job markets across California's urban regions.

Los Angeles County

• As of July, 4.28 million total nonfarm jobs.
• For those sectors with 2.5% of this total (107,000 jobs) or more:
  • Construction jobs up 5.5% over last year.
  • Manufacturing jobs down 0.4% over last year. This drop includes over 2% drops in computer and electronic product manufacturing and aerospace.
• Employment services jobs are down by 0.7% over the last year. Temporary help jobs account for a large portion of such jobs. The decline in temporary help is consistent with increased full-time hiring by employers.

Orange County

• As of July, 1.54 million total nonfarm jobs.
• For those sectors with 2.5% of this total (38,000 jobs) or more:
  • Construction jobs up 7.8% over the past year.
  • Wholesale trade jobs increased by 1.3% over the past 12 months to a total of 83,000. Jobs in nondurable goods wholesaling fell by 2.6%.
• Jobs in private education increased by 21% to 26,500 over the past year.
• Information jobs fell by 1.7% over the past year to 23,700, including a 2.4% decline in publishing.

Inland Empire

• Consists of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
• As of July, 1.10 million total nonfarm jobs.
• For those sectors with 2.5% of this total (27,000 jobs) or more:
  • Transportation and warehousing jobs up 10.1% over the past year, including 4,900 new jobs in warehousing and storage (up 15.5%). A small subsector, couriers and messengers, had an employment increase of 28%. This small subsector consists of workers who "provide intercity and/or local delivery of parcels and documents." Overall, the broader transportation, warehousing, and utilities sector we track had a 9.4% gain over the past year.
  • Professional and technical services jobs up 9.8% over last year.
  • Retail trade jobs climbed by 0.8% over the last year. Declines in clothing, building material, and garden equipment store jobs were offset by gains at car and parts dealerships and general merchandise stores.

San Diego County

• As of July, 1.39 million total nonfarm jobs.
• For those sectors with 2.5% of this total (35,000 jobs) or more:
  • Construction jobs up 7.8% over last year.
  • Transportation, warehousing, and utilities jobs down 1.1% from last year. Jobs in the utilities sector fell by 1.7% to 5,700. Jobs in transportation and warehousing fell by 0.9% to 21,100.
• Ship and boat building jobs increased by 16.1%, reaching a total of 7,200 in this region over the past year.
• The number of jobs in retail clothing stores fell by 4.8% over the past year in this region. As of July 2015, there were 12,000 such jobs in San Diego County.

San Francisco Region

• Consists of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties.
• As of July, 1.05 million total nonfarm jobs.
• For those sectors with 2.5% of this total (26,000 jobs) or more:
  • Professional and technical services jobs up 14.7% over last year. Computer systems design is the largest subsector in this job category.
  • Financial activities jobs up 1.6% over last year. In this region, securities/investment-related jobs declined by 1.4% over the last 12 months.
• Jobs in the couriers and messengers subsector rose by 10% over the past year to 4,400 total in this region.
• Jobs in the special food services subsector rose by 29.8% over the past year to 10,900 total in this region. This subsector is defined to include establishments that provide one of the following food services: (1) service at the customer's location, (2) service at a location designated by the customer, or (3) service from motorized vehicles or carts, such as food trucks.

Silicon Valley Region

• Consists of Santa Clara and San Benito Counties.
• As of July, 1.06 million total nonfarm jobs.
• For those sectors with 2.5% of this total (26,000 jobs) or more:
  • Technology job categories performed very well over the past year, with professional and technical services jobs up 13% and information jobs up 12.9%.
  • Construction jobs rose 11.8% over the past year.
  • Jobs in retail trade rose 0.6% over the past year. Within retail trade, jobs in one subsector, building material and garden equipment stores, dropped by 3.3%. Offsetting this weakness, jobs in food and beverage stores climbed by 2.2%.
• Silicon Valley jobs in aerospace manufacturing fell by 8.2% over the past year to a total of 5,600 as of July 2015.

East Bay Region

• Consists of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.
• As of July, 1.09 million total nonfarm jobs.
• For those sectors with 2.5% of this total (27,000 jobs) or more:
  • Jobs in professional and technical services were up by 5.3% over the past year. Within this category, computer systems design jobs increased by 11.0% to 29,300.
  • Financial activities jobs fell by 4.2% over the past year.
• Jobs in the couriers and messengers subsector rose by 11.9% over the past year to 7,500 total in this region.

Sacramento Region

• Consists of Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, and Yolo Counties.
• As of July, 0.91 million total nonfarm jobs.
• For those sectors with 2.5% of this total (23,000 jobs) or more:
  • Leisure and hospitality jobs increased by 8.1% over the past 12 months to a total of 102,400. Employment by full-service ("sit down") restaurants climbed by 11.1% to a total of 36,000 in the region, while limited-service eating places (generally those without waiter/waitress service) increased employment by 8.1% to a total of 37,300.
  • Wholesale trade jobs declined by 0.8% over the past 12 months, falling to 24,500.
• Jobs in professional and technical services were up by 6.9% over the past year. Included in this category was a 6.7% gain in architectural and engineering jobs.
• Information jobs declined by 2.2%, falling to 13,500 in July 2015.

Kern County

• As of July, 0.25 million total nonfarm jobs, up 0.8% from 12 months ago.
• For those sectors with 2.5% of this total (6,000 jobs) or more:
  • Local government jobs, largely in K-14 education, climbed by 8.1% over the past year to 38,800.
  • Mining and logging jobs, including oil and gas jobs, declined by 20.9% over the past year, falling to 10,600 as of July 2015.
• Jobs in the region in food services and drinking places, principally restaurants, increased by 8.5% over the past year to 21,700. These jobs are a part of the larger leisure and hospitality sector, which grew by 7.4% over the past year.