June 19, 2026
Beacon Employment Report | California
Presented by Beacon Economics
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Beacon Economics publishes a variety of online reports that analyze and forecast the U.S., California, and California regional economies. These publications provide users with the latest data, and with substantive commentary on the overall direction of the economy, employment and unemployment, international trade, real estate markets, consumer and business spending, and much more. The reports represent only a sampling of the kind of analysis Beacon Economics produces.
Sluggish Employment Growth In California
Unemployment Rate Holds Steady
3,100
Monthly Job Gain
California employment grew sluggishly in May, the latest available data. The state’s nonfarm payroll jobs ticked up, with total nonfarm employment growing to a seasonally adjusted 18,166,100, an increase of 3,100 positions over the month.
Estimates of April’s jobs gains were also revised up by 3,300 in the latest numbers, and as a result, employment numbers were unchanged from March to April.
5.3%
Unemployment Rate
Annually, California increased payrolls by 0.6% from May 2025 to May 2026, outpacing the nation’s 0.3% increase over the same period. The state’s labor market continues to be supported mostly by locally serving industries such as Health Care and Leisure and Hospitality. Without the sizeable gains in Health Care, employment levels in the state would be down 27,700 (or -0.2%) over the last year.
“California is and has been in a hiring recession for some time now,” said Justin Niakamal, Research Manager at Beacon Economics. “The lone exception has been the Health Care industry, which has supported a majority of the state’s recent jobs growth, particularly in the lower-paying segment.”
Niakamal notes that there are bright spots in the Bay Area tied to AI, but “Health Care continues to define the state’s job picture.”
52,800
Labor Supply Decline
California’s unemployment rate was 5.3% in May 2026, unchanged from April. The state’s unemployment rate has fallen by 0.2 percentage-points over the last year, while the nation’s rate has gone unchanged. However, California’s unemployment rate remains the 2nd highest in the nation, behind only Washington D.C.
The state’s labor supply is fell by 52,800 month-over-month. Over the last year, California’s labor force has declined by 142,400 workers, a 0.7% drop and a steeper contraction than the 0.2% drop nationally. Lower levels of international migration to the United States and California’s chronic housing shortage continues to limit labor supply growth. .
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The Beacon Employment Report | California is a unique analysis of California’s employment numbers and trends. Each month, we link our own econometric predictions to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the California Employment Development Department to identify important changes in employment across industries and regions. The Beacon Employment Report is also one of the few analyses that uses seasonally adjusted numbers, which are critical to revealing accurate trends and insights within data. The analysis is a sample of the kind of research available from Beacon Economics.
The contents of this report are based on information derived from carefully selected sources Beacon Economics believe are reasonable. We do not guarantee its accuracy or completeness and nothing presented here shall be construed to be a representation of such a guarantee.
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