Beacon Employment Report California – Industry Overview

At the industry level, December’s job losses were concentrated in a just handful of sectors.

Leisure & Hospitality led payroll declines in December, where the number of jobs contracted by 117,000. This ended the slow recovery that was underway in the sector. During 2020, 610,900 jobs have been lost in the sector, a decline of 30%, for the year.

Other sectors posting significant declines during the month were Other Services (-11,000), a sector which includes hairdressers and nail salons, Manufacturing (-3,600), Education (-2,400), Real Estate (-2,000), and Management (-1,600).

The Construction sector led payroll gains in December, increasing by 31,600 during the month. With this showing, Construction sector payrolls are up 0.3% over the last year.

Other sectors posting significant gains during the month were Professional, Scientific & Technical Services (20,300), Administrative Support (10,900), Health Care (8,500), Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities (6,000), and Information (5,200).

During 2020, only three sectors experienced job gains in the state: Construction (+2,900), Finance and Insurance (+11,100), and Professional Scientific & Technical Services (+2,400). The biggest job losses occurred in Leisure & Hospitality (-610,900), Educational & Health Services (-135,200) and Retail Trade (-105,000).