October was a very strong month for the California economy. The state’s Employment Development Department says California added nearly 46,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a point to 10.1 percent.
It’s not just the 46,000 job increase in October. It’s also the revision of September’s 8500 job to 32,000. And the tenth of a point drop in unemployment to 10.1 percent wasn’t caused by distressed workers leaving the workforce. All that, combined with strong showings from the construction and retail industries, has Chapman University Economist Esmael Adibi calling this a broad-based recovery.
“The report is good, the direction is good, the momentum is good. But there are lots of head winds ahead," says Adibi.
Especially the tax increases and spending cuts likely to come from any fiscal cliff deal in Washington.
“And all of those make me worried that maybe, this is not gonna be sustainable at this rate.”
Still, this jobs report is a surprisingly good one – and could bode well for the holiday shopping season.
