California Overview

From entertainment to technology, California offers a broad range of job opportunities and environments. The California job market is slowly turning around following the recession-driven challenges in real estate, business and government. The Golden State is doing its best to manage government deficits and create work opportunities for its labor force of 18.4 million.

California Job Opportunities

California is like a country in and of itself. It accounts for 13 percent of the nation’s output and ranks among the world’s top 10 economies in terms of GDP. It offers a variety of work settings, from a Napa winery and Hollywood movie set to a San Francisco Internet startup.

Key industries driving employment in California include trade, transportation and utilities; government; and professional/business services. Over the past year, the most job opportunities have opened in professional/business services and education/health services. Government jobs have declined due to budget cuts. Also notable is the fact that the construction sector has lost about 370,000 jobs in California since peaking in 2006.

California Employment Trends

Employment conditions in California have been rocky, but are slowly improving. Payrolls fell from early 2008 through mid-2010 and are now positive. Online hiring dipped in mid-2011, but strengthened at the end of 2011 and early 2012; however, online opportunities are still significantly below prerecession levels. After peaking at a steep 12.4 percent for six months in 2010, California’s unemployment rate was below 11 percent in early 2012.

Moody’s Analytics expects California jobs to increase 1.5 percent between Q2 2012 and Q2 2013, higher than the 1.3 percent growth expected in the US job supply during that time.