Southern California’s bosses added workers in May at a hiring pace 15% above the region’s pre-pandemic job growth for the month., found 8 million at work in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in May – up 19,800 in a month and up 63,100 in 12 months. April saw 26,900 employees added.Historically speaking, local bosses averaged adding 17,200 in May in 2015-19, before coronavirus upended the economy. So May 2024 was 2,600 hires above par.
Hiring averaged 3,700 for the month in 2015-19.The four-county unemployment rate was 4.5% in May compared with 4.3% in the previous month, and 4.1% a year earlier. Unemployment decreased by 0.1 percentage points in May in 2015-19. And the count of unemployed rises – 402,700 counted as officially out of work in May, up 17,800 in a month and up 31,200 in a year. The jobless count is 5% above the 424,700 average of pre-pandemic 2015-19.The local unemployment rate averaged 4.7% in 2015-19.