A staggering 2.7 million Californians have filed for unemployment in the last month. But California remains in relatively good shape when it comes to job losses.
A new WalletHub analysis finds that California ranks 17th in the nation for seeing the lowest increase in unemployment relative to its population.
“The bay area really helps California in that way because the tech sector right now is actually doing very well,” says WalletHub senior analyst Jill Gonzalez. “California as a whole is very reliant on that sector, in terms of not only employment but the overall GDP..”
Southern California has also seen fewer relative job losses thanks to the agriculture sector, which is also performing well in the pandemic. That is helping to offset losses in other areas.
“Entertainment, tourism are going to be struggling for a little while,” says Gonzalez. “But it has other types of industries to really pull through. You might see some of them even hiring right now, when it comes to tech.”
Colorado, Louisiana and New Hampshire are among the states hit the worst.
“A lot of it has to do with the tourism industry,” says Gonzalez. “That’s where we see Louisiana and North Carolina. We also see states with a higher share of small business are not faring well right now.”
