California added 39,800 jobs, state unemployment rate falls to 8.7%

California employers added 39,800 payroll jobs in October as the unemployment rate dropped to 8.7% since the last jobs report was released, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.

Job gains were seen across the Golden State last month, with six industries adding new positions. The government sector showed the biggest gain in October, with 12,200 net new jobs.

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Education and health services enjoyed a gain of 9,600 positions last month, while leisure and hospitality added 9,200 jobs.

California’s unemployment rate fell from 8.9% in August and 8.7% in September. Figures for September and October were released Friday, both delayed by the 16-day government shutdown.

California is second only to Texas in the total jobs created over the past year. Since October 2012, California added 207,300 net positions, while the Lone Star State scooped up 267,400.

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The only two sectors that shed jobs in California last month were manufacturing, which lost 5,600 positions, and financial services, which saw a drop of 3,700.

[For the record, 8:18 a.m. Nov. 22: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said federal workers on furlough as a result of the partial government shutdown last month were counted as unemployed. That is true for the household survey on unemployment. However, the monthly net job changes come from the payroll survey, which did not count federal workers as unemployed.

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