State’s Jobless Rate Up in June

California’s job-creating ship hit some ripples in June as the state added a net 15,600 jobs, but the unemployment rate edged up to 5.4%, the Employment Development Department reported Friday.

It was the first increase in the state’s jobless rate since October 2003. But the measure, up from 5.3% in May, stood at 6.9% in June 2003 and 5.8% in January this year. Analysts said a one-month blip wasn’t anything to worry about -- at least not yet.

“You need to see three or four months of increases before you can say we have a problem,” said Howard Roth, chief economist for the state Department of Finance.

He suggested that the bump was primarily because of “volatility” in the statistical components of the separate household survey used to calculate the rate. By comparison, the nationwide jobless rate stood at 5% last month.

Roth called the June job gain “steady but not spectacular.” It followed a revised jump of 15,900 jobs in May and 18,300 in April. The state needs to add about 15,000 jobs a month to absorb labor force growth, Roth said.

“Overall, the state’s economy continued to perform strongly,” said Keitaro Matsuda, senior economist at Union Bank of California, adding that California was creating jobs at a faster clip than the nation as a whole.

The Golden State continues to ride the coattails of solid national economic growth fueled by low interest rates, buoyant consumer spending and a pickup in business investment, analysts say.

“When the national economy does well, our economy does well,” Matsuda said.

California also has some additional feathers in its economic cap, including strong international trade, a soaring housing market and rebounding technology and tourism sectors. The state’s economy seems to be weathering higher energy prices, which are generally steeper here than elsewhere in the nation.

Employers continue to be cautious, however. High health insurance and workers’ compensation costs still weigh on hiring decisions. But with productivity gains from labor-saving technology getting harder to come by, employers increasingly must add workers to meet new orders, analysts say.

Job growth was broadly based in June, with many new positions coming in sectors that tend to pay higher wages, such as construction, professional and business services and healthcare, economist Matsuda said.

Nine of 11 categories tracked by the Employment Development Department lodged job gains, led by construction, up 8,100. However, some analysts are concerned that increases in construction jobs might not be sustainable, given the housing industry’s potentially overheated condition.

“You don’t want to be too dependent on jobs in home building, especially with the way housing prices are going up,” state economist Roth said.

Also scoring larger employment gains were professional and business services (up 5,000), information (up 4,000), and trade, transportation and utilities (up 2,000).

The government sector suffered the largest decline, down 6,300, while leisure and hospitality lost 1,000 positions.

Most Southland counties continued to enjoy relatively low jobless rates, led by Orange at 3.9%, Santa Barbara at 4% and San Diego at 4.4%. Ventura County’s rate was 4.6%; Riverside, 5.2%; and San Bernardino, 5.3%. Los Angeles County checked in at 5.6%.