Job Growth in California Continues at Steady Pace

Southern California Annual Change in Employment, Feb 2015 – Feb 2016

A University of Redlands Institute for Spatial Economic Analysis (ISEA) monthly study finds the overall year-over-year job growth in California remains at a steady pace with slight improvement in Southern California. Most regions in Northern California still show moderate job increases with 1% to 3% annual job growth. Major areas in San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland show similar performance as in January 2016. Job growth in Yuba City and surrounding area of Salinas has slightly accelerated in February 2016. Southern California appears to follow a steady job growth pattern, with almost the whole region showing positive job growth. The only location still shedding jobs remains in the small area south of Los Angeles City. More than 5% rapid job growth remains throughout the Inland Empire. The pattern of regional job growth can be seen in the ISEA employment animation for California on the ISEA YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/ISEAatRedlands.

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METHODOLOGY

The researchers combined today’s data release on employment by industry from the California Employment Development Department with business pattern data by zip code and industry from the U.S. Census Bureau to arrive at their projected values. The researchers point out that, given the data available to them, their projected values are only rough approximations of the true values, and that accuracy is higher for counties with larger populations. Despite those shortcomings, the observed patterns should still be helpful for decision makers in politics, businesses and organizations to determine where to best direct their efforts.

About the University of Redlands Institute for Spatial Economic Analysis (ISEA)

The Institute for Spatial Economic Analysis (ISEA) serves regional, national and global business and government leaders in their needs to better understand how socio-economic phenomena affect their communities. A division of the University of Redlands School of Business, ISEA publishes ongoing, timely reports covering retail, employment, housing, logistics and other special topics. A key distinction of the Institute is its ability to illustrate economic trends and patterns through the use of geo-spatial mapping techniques. In addition, ISEA’s ability to provide zip code level analysis for many of its reports provides unprecedented detail. Current ISEA economic data and interactive maps may be found at http://www.iseapublish.com/map/