Five takeaways from the California jobs report

1/9

The number of biomedical engineers is projected to grow nearly 68% from 4,000 in 2010 to 6,700 in 2020, according to the California Employment Development Department. The median annual wage for this career is $81,540, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures. (John Amis / Associated Press)

2/9

Home health aides provide individualized healthcare to elderly, convalescent or people with disabilities at the patient’s home or in a care facility. The number of aides is projected to grow 52% to 93,100 in 2020, according to the state Employment Development Department. The mean annual wage for these jobs is $21,830, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Joe Raedle/ Getty Images)

3/9

The number of carpenter helpers is projected to swell nearly 52% to 4,700 in 2020, according to state employment projections. The mean annual wage for these workers, who assist carpenters, is $27,230, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

4/9

Market research analysts study market conditions and help examine potential sales of a product or service. The number of these types of analysts is projected to grow 45.8% to 78,300, according to state estimates. The median annual wage of marketing specialists was $60,570, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Ulrich Baumgarten/Getty Images)

5/9

Masons use bricks, concrete blocks and stones to build fences, walkways and other structures. The number of mason helpers is expected to grow 45.7% by 2020, swelling to 5,100, according to state projects. The median annual wage of brickmasons was $46,930, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

6/9

Personal care aides are similar to home health aids, which landed at No. 2 on this list. Personal care aides, however, also make beds, prepare meals and perform other duties at a patient’s home or residential nursing facility. The number of jobs in this field is projected to grow to 462,900 by 2020, a 43% growth rate from 2010. The mean annual wage is about $20,830, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

7/9

The number of emergency medical technicians and paramedics is projected to grow to 22,600, a 42% increase, according to state estimates. The median annual wage of EMTs and paramedics was $30,360 in 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

8/9

The number of museum curators is expected to grow 40% to 1,400 in 2020, according to the state’s Employment Development Department. The median annual wage of curators is $48,450, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

9/9

The number of marriage and family therapists is projected to grow to 14,900 by 2020, according to state projects. That’s a growth rate of 39%. The mean annual salary for these types of therapists is $49,270, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

By Ricardo Lopez

Sept. 20, 2013 12:37 PM PT

<i>This post has been corrected. See note at the bottom for details.</i>

In what can best be described as tepid, California’s jobs report Friday showed the state added 29,100 net payroll jobs even as the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.9% from 8.7% the month before.

Figures from the state’s Employment Development Department show that California’s year-over-year payroll job growth slowed to 1.5%. Earlier this year, that rate was hovering around 2%.

Economists say California has lost steam partly because of the ongoing recession in Europe, the economic slowdown in China and sluggishness in the retail sector.

Photos: Fastest-growing jobs in California

Here are five takeaways from Friday’s jobs report:

1.) The civilian labor force has declined by 65,000 since June. California over much of the past year has bucked the national trend of a decline in the labor force. When the pace of job growth earlier this year was stronger, the labor market was strong enough to absorb job-seekers who had been encouraged enough to resume looking for work.

Normally, a decline in the labor force artificially causes the unemployment rate to fall, a trend that has partly caused the U.S. jobless rate to drop.

That hasn’t happened in California because:

2.) Civilian employment has also decreased in the last two months. Civilian employment includes payroll jobs and those who are self-employed or working as contractors. It’s a broader measure of employment.

The unemployment rate has ticked up, signaling that the labor market is not strong enough to absorb newcomers, said Esmael Adibi, director of Chapman University’s A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research.

3.) August job gains were broadly based. One of the more positive bits of news in Friday’s report was that nine sectors added jobs last month. They included construction, which added 7,700 jobs and led payroll growth. The professonal and business services sector, which includes lawyers, accountants and architects, added 6,300 jobs.

Manufacturing, surprisingly, added jobs as well, but over the year, the sector is still down 0.1%.

4.) Over the year, California has added 223,900 jobs. It’s important to remember that the monthly data are highly volatile and subject to revisions, so the better measure of the labor market is the long-term view. Though the rate of job creation has slowed, economists had been expecting the summer months to be a slower period for hiring.

Economists worry that the threat of a government shutdown could weigh on the economy’s future growth.

That threat has become more real this as week as House Republicans approved a spending bill Friday that would defund President Obama’s healthcare law, setting up a showdown with the Democratic-controlled Senate that risks causing the first government shutdown in nearly two decades.

Barring any other unexpected headwinds (and assuming the government doesn’t screech to a halt here in the next two weeks), economists expect California’s job growth to accelerate later this year.

5.) July’s job gains were revised downward. The state’s Employment Development Department had intiailly reported that employers added 38,100 jobs in July, but that number has now been revised to 27,800.

Though a small drop, it points to a softening in the labor market during the summer months.

[For the record, 2:25 p.m. PDT, Sept. 20: A previous version of this post had an incorrect number for the July job gains revision.]

ALSO:

Many affluent women lack investing confidence, study finds

Warren Buffett says not raising debt limit would be ‘damn dumb’

JPMorgan Chase agrees to pay $389 million for credit card violations

ricardo.lopez@latimes.com