Telepeer

Southern California job creation 56% below average: 11 trends to watch

July 18, 2026

Southern California bosses are adding to their staffs at roughly half the historic pace.

My trusty spreadsheet analyzed state job counts to find a total of 9.93 million jobs across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura and Imperial counties in June. That’s up 37,100 over 12 months, or a 0.4% gain. By the way, this is record-high employment for the region.

Here are 11 things to know about June’s job market:

1. Southern California employment has grown at an 85,070 annual pace during the past decade. So, June’s job growth is 56% below the region’s 10-year average for 12-month staffing additions.

2. Statewide, there were 18.1 million jobs, up 106,900 workers in a year. Pace since 2016? Adding 170,600 yearly. So, 37% below the 10-year norm.

3. Southern California bosses are slower to add staff than their northern peers. Southern California had 55% of all jobs statewide in June but only 35% of California’s employment growth.

Local bosses are skittish about adding staff because the national economy is wobbly, interest rates and inflation are stubbornly high, there’s plenty of political uncertainty — nationally and statewide — and there’s a war going on. Northern California is benefiting from a huge influx of venture capital, primarily to boost artificial intelligence development.

Across the region’s six job markets, June had four adding workers in a year with two declining.

4. The region’s employment giant, Los Angeles County, had 4.61 million workers, up 13,500 in a year. Pace since 2016? 22,700 added yearly. So, 41% below the 10-year norm.

5. Orange County had 1.69 million jobs, off 200 in a year. Pace since 2016? 11,200 added yearly.

6. The Inland Empire had 1.73 million jobs, up 8,900 in a year. Pace since 2016? 33,100 added yearly. So, 73% below the 10-year norm.

7. San Diego County had 1.58 million jobs, up 15,600 in a year. Pace since 2016? 16,300 added yearly. So, 4% below the 10-year norm. This is record-high employment.

8. Ventura County had 318,700 jobs, off 1,000 in a year. Pace since 2016? 1,900 added yearly.

9. Imperial County had 61,000 jobs, up 300 in a year. Pace since 2016? 1,000 added yearly. So, 70% below the 10-year norm.

An eye-catching trend: California’s job market looks better than the nation.

10. U.S. employers employed 159 million workers, up 506,000 from a year ago. This is record-high employment. Pace since 2016? 1.48 million yearly. So, American job creation is 66% below the 10-year norm.

11. Peek at California’s significant slice of the U.S. job market. The state accounted for 11% of all jobs nationwide in June but 21% of all U.S. job creation.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

Try Jonathan Lansner’s Substack collection of economic trends. CLICK HERE!

Orange County Register

News Details

Southern California job creation 56% below average: 11 trends to watch

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS