The Inland Empire was California’s top job creator during the past four years.
Source: State employment stats for 29 regional job markets – focusing on average 2023 employment vs. 2019, the year before the pandemic hit.
The region comprising Riverside and San Bernardino counties may be California’s most under-appreciated economic asset.
The Inland Empire averaged 1.68 million workers last year – up 128,400 vs. 2019. That gain easily was No. 1 among the state’s job markets.
Or look at the outperformance this way. California added 640,300 jobs since 2019 to 18.1 million. So, the Inland Empire created 20% of the state’s new jobs but comprises only 9% of the state’s total employment.
Los Angeles County was No. 2 for job growth during the past four years with 79,000 jobs added to 4.6 million, the state’s largest job market. Other big job increases were in …
San Diego County: 69,900 added since 2019 to 1.6 million.
Sacramento: 67,600 added since 2019 to 1.1 million.
Orange County: 39,000 added since 2019 to 1.7 million.
San Jose-Santa Clara: 36,500 added since 2019 to 1.2 million.
Stockton: 30,700 added since 2019 to 278,000. That 12.4% growth was No. 1 among the metros.
Fresno: 26,900 added since 2019 to 390,000.
San Francisco: 26,300 added since 2019 to 1.2 million.
Bakersfield: 18,500 added since 2019 to 292,000.
Visalia-Porterville: 13,200 added since 2019 to 142,000.
Oakland-Berkeley: 11,400 added since 2019 to 1.2 million.
Bottom line
Note that employment in four smaller job markets remains below 2019 levels.
San Rafael’s down 4,600 workers to 112,000, Chico’s down by 2,300 to 78,000, Santa Cruz declined by 1,000 to 103,000, and Napa dropped 300 jobs to 75,000.
”Survey says” looks at various rankings and scorecards judging geographic locations, while noting these grades are best seen as a mix of artful interpretation and data.