Healthcare carries LA's job growth as entertainment keeps sliding.
4.8%-4.9%
LA County unemployment rate
vs 5.1% statewide, 4.1% national
38,800 of 37,900 jobs
Share of job growth from healthcare/education
all other sectors combined lost ~900 jobs
3.3% YoY (June 2026)
Total compensation growth, LA metro
vs 3.6%-4.2% in peer western metros
29,000 jobs added
National payroll growth, September
vs 45,000 12-month average, prior months revised down
This Month's Takeaways
01
Healthcare is doing nearly all the county's job-growth work.
Education and health services accounted for 38,800 of the county's 37,900 net payroll gains over the year, meaning every other sector combined lost roughly 900 jobs. A local economy this dependent on one sector's expansion is more exposed to any slowdown in healthcare hiring or state healthcare spending than the headline job count implies.
02
Entertainment's slump is a structural drag, not a blip.
Entertainment employment sits at its lowest point in a decade outside 2020 and 2023, a signal distinct from the broader labor market stabilization story. Given the sector's historic weight in the regional economy, its continued contraction may be muting consumer-facing activity in adjacent industries like hospitality and retail even as those sectors post modest gains elsewhere.
03
Local pay growth is lagging the Western metro pack.
Total compensation costs rose 3.3% in Los Angeles through June versus 3.6-4.2% in other major western metros, with wage and salary gains of 2.8% also trailing peers. That relative softness, paired with a $18.42 city minimum wage already in effect, suggests upward wage pressure here is concentrated at the floor rather than broad-based.
04
County unemployment looks stable, but labor force data tells a murkier story.
Statewide, payroll counts show job growth even as a separate household survey reports fewer Californians employed and fewer in the labor force, a divergence UCLA economists have flagged as an 'employment recession' despite official unemployment holding near recent lows. Locally, this gap is worth tracking before reading county-level stability as unambiguous strength.
Local Economic Conditions
Los Angeles County's unemployment rate held near 4.8-4.9% in August, roughly a point below the statewide 5.1% reading, as healthcare and social assistance continued to supply nearly all net job growth while entertainment employment sat at its lowest level in a decade outside 2020 and 2023. Total compensation costs rose 3.3% year-over-year through June, trailing the 3.6-4.2% range seen in peer western metros, suggesting employers locally are facing less upward wage pressure than Seattle, Phoenix, or Denver even as the $18.42 city minimum wage took effect July 1.
Open Threads in the Data
Concentrated job growth in healthcare and public-adjacent services, alongside continued softness in entertainment and professional/business services statewide, points to an economy still expanding but on a narrower base than the headline payroll count suggests. For commerce leaders evaluating expansion or investment timing, the gap between stable aggregate unemployment and uneven sector performance argues for looking past the countywide number toward the specific industry composition of any planned activity. Government and economic development leaders should consider reviewing which sectors are actually absorbing labor force growth before treating the county unemployment rate as a uniform signal of local business climate strength.
Advertised Pay Indicators · WageScape Benchmark 25 Jobs
Job postings data for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA metro — median advertised pay, its recent trend, and the number of active postings behind each figure. Jobs are grouped for readability and are not the same as the 10 sector classifications on the next page. For additional job detail contact WageScape.
Retail Trade
| Retail Sales Associate |
$39,520 |
→ Stable |
45,074 |
| Retail Cashier |
$38,480 |
→ Stable |
19,402 |
Transportation & Warehousing
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate |
$41,080 |
→ Stable |
10,576 |
| CDL Truck Driver |
$77,512 |
↑ Moderate increase |
19,147 |
| Delivery Driver |
$37,142 |
↓ Moderate decline |
23,050 |
| Warehouse Manager |
$100,000 |
↑ Significant increase |
66 |
Construction
| Construction Laborer |
$42,640 |
→ Stable |
1,167 |
Construction/Skilled Trades
| Electrician |
$76,243 |
↑ Significant increase |
5,729 |
| HVAC Technician |
$74,897 |
→ Stable |
1,150 |
Manufacturing
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler |
$42,640 |
→ Stable |
9,746 |
Cross-Sector
| Customer Service Representative |
$44,000 |
↑ Moderate increase |
15,072 |
| Operations Manager |
$116,000 |
↓ Moderate decline |
275 |
Leisure & Hospitality
| Food Service Worker |
$44,200 |
→ Stable |
1,413 |
Healthcare
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide |
$46,800 |
→ Stable |
15,941 |
| Registered Nurse |
$120,246 |
↑ Moderate increase |
40,819 |
Admin/Office Support
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk |
$49,920 |
↑ Moderate increase |
20,955 |
Information/Technology
| Software Engineer |
$159,186 |
→ Stable |
34,840 |
| Data Engineer |
$146,737 |
↑ Moderate increase |
10,442 |
Professional & Business Services
| Accountant |
$77,500 |
↑ Moderate increase |
22,312 |
| HR Generalist/Manager |
$80,152 |
↑ Moderate increase |
4,509 |
| Marketing Specialist |
$68,324 |
↑ Moderate increase |
3,792 |
| Business Analyst |
$99,532 |
→ Stable |
8,167 |
Finance & Insurance
| Financial Analyst |
$99,700 |
→ Stable |
6,481 |
Government/Education
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher |
$61,426 |
↑ Moderate increase |
40,694 |
Cross-Sector Sales
| Account Manager |
$95,000 |
↑ Moderate increase |
21,018 |
Industry Snapshot · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA
Advertised pay and job-posting trends across the whole metro economy, rolled up by employer industry — not just the bellwether roles above.
| Sector |
Median Pay Change |
Job Postings Change |
| Construction |
↑ +5.7% |
↑ +16.8% |
| Manufacturing |
↑ +15.4% |
↑ +27.7% |
| Retail Trade |
→ +1.9% |
→ −1.9% |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities |
↑ +10.5% |
↑ +5.9% |
| Information |
↑ +19.5% |
↓ −5.1% |
| Financial Activities |
↑ +13.5% |
↑ +12.7% |
| Professional & Business Services |
↑ +10.5% |
↑ +6.7% |
| Education & Health Services |
↑ +3.8% |
↓ −4.2% |
| Leisure & Hospitality |
→ −2.4% |
→ +2.1% |
| Government |
↑ +23.8% |
↓ −3.5% |
Looking Ahead · Next 30–60 Days
Potential inflection point
National payroll growth slowed sharply to 29,000 in September with downward revisions to July and August, while national wage growth fell to its lowest level since May 2021. Watch whether Los Angeles payroll gains, which have outpaced some peer metros, begin to track that national cooling in the October release.
Emerging pressure point
Entertainment employment has not recovered to pre-2020 norms and shows no clear turnaround signal this month. A continued drag here would weigh on consumer-facing retail and hospitality activity even as healthcare keeps aggregate numbers positive.
Worth watching
California's $3 million allocation tied to the Valero Benicia refinery closure signals state attention to regional economic transition costs; any similar displacement event in the LA basin, given ongoing information-sector and financial-activities softness statewide, would be a test of how quickly displaced workers re-enter the local labor force.
Expected
Los Angeles minimum wage rose to $18.42 in July and California's statewide floor rises to $17.40 in January 2027. Commerce leaders should expect continued compression at the lower end of advertised pay ranges across retail, food service, and warehouse roles as these floors converge.
Sources & Methodology
Pay and hiring data provided by WageScape. See every source cited in this report, with links →
Advertised pay reflects the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro, not survey or payroll data. Pay trends compare the current period with the prior period for the same metro and role. Sector figures group postings by the employer's industry classification; sectors with limited classified postings are marked as such rather than estimated. This briefing is independent of, and complements, official statistics from the BLS and state labor market information offices.
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