California now has the highest unemployment rate in the country, reaching 5.3%, according to data from the Employment Development Department.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, California lost 2.7 million jobs due to stay-at-home orders. Since then, California has rebounded by adding 3 million jobs to its market, averaging roughly 66,000 jobs per month.
However, a recent data analysis found a discrepancy between the numbers. While federal data showed the state created 300,000 jobs between September 2022 and September 2023, the corrected amount revealed that only 50,000 jobs were created during that period.
“I think California’s economy is the leading edge of the national economic slowdown,” said Sung Won Sohn, a professor of finance and economics at Loyola Marymount University.
It can be challenging to measure job growth accurately. The number is based on a monthly survey of workers.
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