February 29, 2008

Revised numbers: California employment flat in 07

Economist Steve Levy offers this first-cut analysis of today's revisions by the EDD of California's job growth numbers for 2007:

Job growth in California slowed to nearly zero in 2007 according to just released revisions of job estimates by EDD.

Job growth between January 2007 and January 2008 was 14,900 or 0.1% for the past 12 months. Downward revisions in manufacturing, construction and finance resulted in estimates of sharp job losses in each sector during the past 12 months—( -69,300 jobs in construction, -23,600 jobs in manufacturing and –35,300 jobs in finance). Job gains were concentrated in professional services (+33,400); education and health services (+41,800) and government (+50,200).

The state lost 20,300 jobs (seasonally adjusted) between December 2007 and January 2008. These estimates combined with the latest national economic news confirm that the state has entered a period of slow or negative economic growth that is likely to persist for at least a few months.

Year-over-year job losses were recorded throughout Southern California metro areas while job gains were recorded throughout metropolitan areas in the Bay Area. In both cases the change in job levels was small but there was a clear difference between the two large regions in 2007.

I will post a link to the actual report here as soon as I can find it on the EDD's awful web site.

Posted by dweintraub on February 29, 2008 12:02 PM