California unemployment rate falls to 5.4% in February

By ADAM BEAM
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s unemployment rate has fallen to 5.4% after employers added a surprising 138,100 jobs in February. New data released Friday from the state’s Employment Development Department show California has regained 87.2% of the jobs that the state lost in March and April of 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. None of the state’s 11 industry sectors lost jobs in February. The leisure and hospitality sectors posted the biggest gains, adding 30,400 jobs. Most of that came in Los Angeles County, which accounted for 44% of all state job gains. Friday’s numbers are based on a survey taken before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent gas prices soaring.