California added 96,700 new jobs in January — 18.7% of the nation’s 517,000 overall job gains for the month, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Friday.
Newsom cited a report from the Employment Development Office that found eight of California’s major industry sectors gained jobs in January and the state outpaced the nation in year-over-year job growth with 559,500 jobs added — an increase of 3.5%.
The leisure and hospitality sector enjoyed an extremely strong month-over gain of 20,800 jobs thanks to gains in gambling industries, performing arts, spectator sports and talent agents.
Despite the job gains, the state’s unemployment rate rose by 0.1% to 4.2% as more workers sought jobs.
San Diego County posted a jobless rate of 3.7%, lower than the statewide average but up from 2.9% in December.
California has added more than 3 million jobs since the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020.