May 22, 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.
California Employment Growth Stuck In Neutral
Labor Supply Declines Again
3,000
Monthly Job Loss
California’s nonfarm payroll jobs remained largely unchanged in April. Total nonfarm employment in the state fell to a seasonally adjusted 18,159,700, a decrease of 3,300 positions over the month.
However, March’s job gains were revised from 28,700 to 37,500 in the latest numbers, an 8,800 increase over the preliminary estimate. On an annual basis, California increased payrolls by 0.6% from April 2025 to April 2026, outpacing the 0.2% increase nationally 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 state’s sizeable gains in Health Care, employment levels would be down 37,700 (or -0.3%) over the past year.
5.3%
Unemployment Rate
California’s unemployment rate was 5.3% in April 2026, unchanged from March. The state’s unemployment rate has fallen by 0.1 percentage-points over the last year, while the nation’s rate has ticked up by the exact same amount. However, California’s rate is the second highest in the nation, behind only Washington D.C..
50,100
Labor Supply Decline
California’s labor supply fell by 50,100 month-over-month. Over the last year, the state’s labor force has fallen by 72,300 workers, a 0.4% decline, but a more modest decline compared to the 0.6% drop nationally. In California, lower levels of international migration into the United States and the state’s chronic housing shortage are constraining 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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