LA is Southern California's task developer-- a minimum of in March

Southern California's job market in March was very much a split picture, with Los Angeles County being the jobs engine.

My dependable spreadsheet, filled with state job figures launched Friday, April 21, found 7.97 million at work in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in March. That's up 18,300 employees in a month and up 157,800 in 12 months. Regional hiring averaged 10,158 a month in 2018-19.

The general hiring speed shows that lots of employers still require workers. This comes despite extreme efforts by the Federal Reserve to cool an overheated economy that's generating unusually high inflation.

The local hiring upswing was by no means universal, geographically speaking.

L.A. County had 4.61 million workers in March after a 19,800 addition for the month and growing by 110,300 in a year. That hiring spree was almost five times L.A.'s 4,221 regular monthly task development balanced in 2018-19.

In other places in the region, the working with pace cooled.

Orange County dropped 700 employees to 1.69 million workers, but still grew by 41,700 in a year. Hiring balanced 1,588 monthly in 2018-19.

The Inland Empire slipped 800 tasks in a month to 1.66 million workers after growing by 5,800 in a year. This is a considerable downturn from working with that balanced 4,350 a month in 2018-19.

Joblessness rates were steady throughout the region. And that develops some difficulties.

The four-county out of work rate was 4.6% in March compared with 4.7% in the previous month, and 4.6% a year earlier. Joblessness averaged 4.2% in pre-pandemic 2018-19.

At the metropolitan area level, L.A. joblessness in March was 5% vs. 5.2% a month earlier. Orange County was 3.4%, like February, and Inland Empire was 4.5%, likewise flat.

Across Southern California, the variety of jobless employees fell. The 404,400 counted as formally out of work was down 12,700 in a month and down 800 in a year. The jobless count balanced 366,642 in pre-pandemic 2018-19, or 9% lower.

The basically flat number of task applicants was little aid for the size of the region's labor force. The tally of the out of work plus those who are utilized is a method to track the supply of employees.

The labor force in March was 8.82 million-- down 2,500 in a year and only up 5,238 vs. the 2018-19 average.

This slow workforce development is a factor employers struggle to fill open positions. It likewise suppresses the employing speed.

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