Los Angeles County’s unemployment rate in March dipped below 6% for the first time since October, even as the county recorded a slight drop in payroll jobs, according to state figures released April 18.

The California Economic Development Department reported the county had a 5.9% unemployment rate in March, down from 6.0% for each of the two previous months. However, the main reason for the dip was a significant drop of 22,000 in the county’s labor force to 5.08 million, meaning fewer people were in the labor force looking for work.

Nonetheless, the county’s unemployment rate was still above the 5.5% reading for March of last year. It was also above the March statewide unemployment rate of 5.3% and well above the 4.2% nationwide rate.

The unemployment figures come from a survey of households in L.A. County, while the payroll jobs figures come from a sampling of employer payroll data submitted to the state.

The Employment Development Department also released a breakout of the March unemployment rates by city, though unlike the countywide figure, these rates are not adjusted for seasonal factors.

The county’s two largest cities – Los Angeles and Long Beach – posted rates of 5.7% and 5.2 %, respectively. The EDD data did not shed any light on whether January’s Palisades Fire affected the city of Los Angeles figure.

Among cities with more than 10,000 people in the labor force, Lomita had the lowest unemployment rate in March at 2.6% while Calabasas had the highest rate at 8.1%.

Among the L.A. County cities in the San Fernando, Conejo, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys with labor forces exceeding 10,000, after Calabasas and its 8.1% unemployment rate, the city of Burbank was next at 7.1%, followed closely by Lancaster at 7.0% and then Palmdale at 6.6%.

On the low end, Santa Clarita posted the lowest unemployment rate in March of 5.2%, followed by San Fernando at 5.6% and Glendale at 5.7%.

Small drop in payroll jobs

The roller coaster ride continued in March for the number of payroll jobs in Los Angeles County. After a huge seasonal drop in January of nearly 100,000 jobs and a rebound of nearly 30,000 jobs in February, the number of payroll jobs in March fell by 2,300 to 4.76 million.

The EDD also releases a payroll jobs figure that adjusts for seasonal factors. That figure for March showed a larger drop of 7,200 jobs when compared with the 2,300-job decline in the raw payroll job tallies.

The drop in the raw figure came in small chunks spread out over several sectors, led by a decline of about 3,300 jobs in the transportation and warehousing sectors. Manufacturing was next, losing on net 2,300 jobs. Then came construction, retail, and professional/business services, each dropping by about 2,000 jobs in March.

The education sector posted the biggest payroll jobs gain in March, adding on net 5,300 jobs. The vast majority of those were in local K-12 education, which rose by 4,100 jobs. Health care/social assistance was next, adding 2,900 jobs.

For the 12-month period ending in March, L.A. County lost on net about 15,700 jobs, representing a drop of about 0.3%. That marks the third consecutive month of drops in payroll jobs in this rolling 12-month period. The last time that happened was during the pandemic year of 2020.

The manufacturing sector saw the biggest contraction during the 12 months ending in March, shedding about 17,000 jobs. This continues a decades long slide that has seen the manufacturing sector shrivel to just 297,000 jobs in March from 834,000 jobs in March 1990, a plunge of 64%.

Other sectors recording net drops in payroll jobs for the 12-month period ending in March were professional/business services (down 9,800 jobs), financial activities (down, 9,000 jobs), construction (down 8,800 jobs) and motion picture/sound recording (down 8,400 jobs).

On the positive side of the ledger, the health care/social assistance sector gained on net roughly 40,000 jobs over the 12-month period ending in March. The education sector gained on net just over 15,000 jobs during that period, with roughly half that coming from private education.