California Jobs Report Vastly Improved In October

The California labor market appears to be bouncing back after a rough report last month.

“We’re going through this zigzagging behavior – one month is strong, one month’s weak,” says Chapman University economist Esmael Adibi.

Last month’s initial report looked especially bad: It said California added just 8,000 jobs in September.

But how different it looks a month later: The latest report revised that 8,000-job figure all the way up to 21,000. And California added 41,000 more jobs in October.

The lone dark spot is manufacturing, which continues to struggle.

“But if you put that sector aside, you see a quite broad job creation taking place,” Adibi says, noting particularly strong showings in construction, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality.

“This is a mix of all type of jobs – and that’s what we want,” he says.

California’s unemployment rate continued its gradual drop. It’s now at 5.8 percent – more than a full point lower than where it started the year.