California employers added 31,200 more jobs to the state’s economy in October, although the unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent, state officials said Friday.
The Employment Development Department said October marked the fourth straight month that the unemployment rate hasn’t changed. Although job growth has remained fairly strong, employers aren’t creating jobs quickly enough as more Californians stream into the labor market. Another 90,000 state residents entered the labor market in October, according to the EDD.
Sacramento’s regional unemployment rate went up a tenth of a point, to 5.2 percent, although the area added 2,500 jobs during October. The public sector added 6,600 jobs, with public schools doing the bulk of the hiring as the academic year got into full swing. Retailers added 2,100 jobs, but the construction industry began its seasonal cutback by eliminating 3,100 jobs.
The Sacramento area has added 24,100 jobs in the past year, a 2.6 percent growth rate. That’s shaved the unemployment rate by four-tenths of a point.
Across the state, 389,500 Californians have found work in the past year, an increase of 2.4 percent. Unemployment has fallen four-tenths of a percentage point since October 2015.
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