- June 19, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
California has added jobs at a torrid rate since the beginning of the year, but the state’s economy has a long way to go before it recovers its pre-pandemic prosperity.
May was the fourth month that Golden State payrolls grew by more than 100,000 positions — a faster post-recession rate than in any previous recovery.
Employment grew to 16.35 million jobs, but just 51.8% of the 2.7 million lost in March and April 2020 had returned as of last month, state officials reported Friday.
“A full California labor market recovery from this pandemic is still likely several years away,” said Scott Anderson, an economist with Bank of the West in San Francisco. “Even with stepped-up job growth, California has been unable to close the yawning unemployment gap with the nation.”
The Golden State’s jobless rate fell slightly last month, to 7.9% from a revised 8% in April. It was a vast improvement from a 16% peak in April 2020, but that rate was considerably…
