The Center for Jobs and the Economy has released our full analysis of the September Employment Report from the California Employment Development Department. For additional information and data about the California economy visit www.centerforjobs.org/ca. 

EDD reported that employment (seasonally adjusted; September preliminary) fell for the second month in a row, down 20,100 from the revised numbers for August. The number of unemployed rose 37,600.

The reported unemployment rate dropped 0.2 point to 3.9%, the lowest in the current data series. Rather than representing an improvement in labor conditions, however, change in the rate was primarily the result of a drop in the total labor force. California had the 15th highest unemployment rate among the states, and contained 13.0% of the total number of unemployed workers in the US.

In the national numbers, total US employment was up 204,000, and the number of unemployed dropped by 261,000. With the labor force largely unchanged, the reported unemployment rate dropped 0.2 point to 3.5%, matching the rate recorded in February 2020.