State Job Growth Still Moving at a Slow Pace

Hiring in California remained sluggish in April, sharply lagging behind the nation’s job creation pace, but economists said there were signs that the state’s employment growth might soon accelerate.

California employers added a net 16,300 nonfarm jobs last month, according to a report released Friday by the state Employment Development Department. The gains were broad-based but still only about half of what analysts had expected, given that payrolls nationwide expanded by 288,000 in April amid a strengthening national economy.

California accounts for 11% of the U.S. workforce, yet the state has not generated its share of jobs in recent months. Economists blame the trailing performance on cutbacks at budget-strapped government agencies, a weak technology job market and lingering concerns about California’s high business costs.

Nationally, a burst of hiring generated 625,000 net new positions in March and April, leaving little doubt that the long jobless recovery was over. That can’t yet be said for California. Although the state’s payroll growth in March was revised up to 21,500, the tally for the last two months still left California well short of expected gains.

The state’s jobless rate fell in April to 6.2% from 6.6% the previous month, but that was partly because discouraged workers dropped out of the labor force.

“We don’t seem to have our fair share of employment gains, so that is a concern,” said Keitaro Matsuda, senior economist at Union Bank of California. “Based on the numbers we have, it’s hard to say we’re in a sustained job recovery mode.”

But he and other economists, as well as industry and company executives, said the pace of job creation in California was likely to pick up in the next few months. They cited several factors: growing domestic and overseas demand for California-made goods and services, an improvement in the hard-hit Bay Area economy and pressures on companies that have refrained from hiring to finally add permanent full-time workers to keep up with rising orders.

Friday’s employment report also had some encouraging news. It showed job gains, however small, in every major industry category except for “information,” which includes telecom- munications and motion pictures. Even the state’s long-declining manufacturing sector added 600 jobs last month, reflecting a sharp upturn in exports and domestic demand.

“I think this report was the best report we got since the recession began,” said Esmael Adibi, director of the Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University. “I see the job growth is going to improve from the levels we have now.”

Jack Stewart, president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Assn., a Sacramento-based trade group, said the latest jobs report was “the first positive sign that we’ve seen in 3 1/2 years.” With the economy on the upswing, he added, “I would think some of our companies are going to start hiring workers back.”

One such company might be Titan Spring Co. in North Hollywood. Jim Glenn, the firm’s president, said Friday that orders for its springs and stamped-metal products were up 35% in the last three months from the year-ago period. In recent weeks, Titan has added four part-time workers, bringing its overall employment to 35. But Glenn remains gun-shy about hiring full-timers.

“We’re waiting to see if this is a sustained recovery,” he said. “Personally, I believe we’re in the beginning of a roar and it’s going to take off and last for several years. But it’s a personal opinion, and I don’t sign checks based on that.”

Statewide, the biggest payroll gains last month came in the sprawling professional- and business-services category, which added 4,900 jobs in April. Employment in the leisure and hospitality sector was up 4,700 -- and analysts said tourism in San Francisco appeared to be stirring to life again.

Educational and health services and construction both expanded by about 1,000 jobs last month. And government increased its head count by 4,300.

The only major sector to contract last month was information, which saw a drop of 5,300 jobs, largely because of the motion picture industry centered in Los Angeles County. Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said industry data indicated no recent slowdown in television shooting and film production, suggesting that government statisticians may have undercounted job gains in Hollywood.

Job growth in Los Angeles County has been sluggish, but Kyser said the labor market was improving. The county’s jobless rate held steady in April at 6.2%.

The Inland Empire continues to lead Southern California in job growth, followed by San Diego and Orange counties. Unemployment rates for all those areas fell markedly last month, as they did for the Bay Area.

“Since March, things have been going strong,” said Cameron Litten, the Torrance branch manager for Kimco Staffing Services Inc. “The aerospace industry, anything to do with homes, and small manufacturers supplying to larger companies. Business is picking up.”