Los Angeles County’s unemployment rate inched back up in July to 5.8% from a revised 5.7% in June, according to state figures released on Aug. 15.

The state Employment Development Department also reported that employers in the county shed more than 30,000 jobs from their payrolls in July. The drop was entirely due to seasonal cuts in education payrolls after the academic year ended.

After a brief dip in June to 5.7%, the county’s unemployment rate in July returned to 5.8%, where it had been since April. It was down slightly from 6.0% in July of last year.

As has been the case for the last several months, the components that make up the unemployment rate showed very little movement in July compared with June, helping to keep the rate stable. The number of residents reporting they were employed rose by 1,000 to 4.78 million. There was no change in the number of residents reporting they were unemployed. And the size of the labor force increased by 2,000 to 5.07 million.

These figures don’t reflect the impact of the ongoing federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in the county. There have been anecdotal reports of undocumented immigrants choosing to stay home from work out of fear of being detained.

The county’s 5.8% unemployment rate remained above the statewide total of 5.5% in July and way above the national rate of 4.2%.

The Employment Development Department also reported the July the unemployment rates for the county’s 88 cities and dozens of other communities, though unlike the countywide figure, these figures are not adjusted for seasonal factors.

For the county’s two largest cities – Los Angeles and Long Beach – the July unemployment rates were 6.5% and 6.2% respectively. Among cities with labor forces exceeding 10,000, Lomita had the lowest unemployment rate in July of 3.0%, while Calabasas had the highest rate of 9.3%.

The EDD reported the unemployment rate for one of the fire zones – Altadena – but only for the Malibu portion of the Palisades fire zone. In Altadena, the rate was 6.7% in July, compared with 6.6% in the same month of last year. In Malibu, the July rate was 6.8%, compared with 4.5% for the same month last year.

Among the Los Angeles County cities in the San Fernando, Conejo, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys with labor forces exceeding 10,000, Santa Clarita posted the lowest rate in July of 6.1%, followed by San Fernando and Glendale at 6.4%.

On the high end, after Calabasas and its 9.3% unemployment rate in July, Lancaster was next at 8.3%, followed by Palmdale at 7.7% and Burbank at 7.4%.

Seasonal loss in payroll jobs

A total of 4.57 million people were on employer payrolls in Los Angeles County in July, down 30,700 jobs from June.

The seasonal cuts in education payrolls accounted for all this drop and then some. Adding up K-12 local education, state education (mostly colleges and universities) and private educational services, a total of 48,000 jobs were cut in this sector alone, just weeks after the 2024-25 academic year ended.

But this level of job cuts is typical for July. Indeed, the state Employment Development Department also puts out a set of adjusted figures that account for typical seasonal variations. For July, those figures showed a gain of 2,500 jobs compared to June. That’s because no other industry sector reported a significant drop in payroll jobs in July.

On the flip side, several industry sectors showed significant increases in payroll employment, led by a gain of 6,800 in the health care/social assistance sector. Other gainers included arts/entertainment/recreation (up 1,600 jobs) and manufacturing (up 1,400 jobs).

For the 12 month-period ending in July, employers in L.A. County added 33,500 jobs to their payrolls for an increase of 0.7%. That growth rate is a bit below the historical average, which has been closer to 1%.

As with the monthly totals, the health care/social assistance sector led the gainers with a surge of nearly 48,000 jobs for the 12 month-period ending in July. This is not surprising given the region’s aging population and increasing need for health care services.

Other big gainers for the 12-month period ending in July were the volatile motion picture/sound recording industry (up 9,900 jobs or 10%), arts/entertainment/recreation (up 5,200 jobs) and local government (up 3,700 jobs).

Despite its July gains, the manufacturing sector showed the biggest decline in payroll jobs for the 12-month period ending in July, shedding 13,000 jobs. This is in keeping with a long-term decline: In July 1990, there were 822,000 manufacturing jobs in Los Angeles County; last month there were only 299,000, a plunge of 523,000 jobs or 64%.

Other sectors reporting losses of payroll jobs for the 12 month-period ending in July were construction (down 6,200), financial activities (down 5.400) and professional/business services (down 4,300).