California's Employment Development Department and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released California's May 2019 state jobs report Friday. Statewide nonfarm employment grew by an estimated 19,400 in May, slightly below the average pace of the past 12 months. The official unemployment rate dropped to 4.2 percent, just above the modern series low of 4.1 percent.
The figure below summarizes nonfarm employment by sector based on the monthly survey of employers. Information has been the slowest growing sector nationwide, yet the second fastest growing sector in California. This difference may be due to the fast-growing software, data processing, and web search subsectors accounting for 48 percent of information sector jobs in California but just 24 percent nationwide. Overall employment in both the state and the nation have grown 1.6 percent over the previous 12 months.
