by Calculated Risk on 5/19/2006 04:15:00 PM

Click on graph for larger image.

The California Employment Development Department reports that seasonally adjusted California construction employment fell by 8,300 in April. This followed a loss of 9,900 construction jobs in March.

For overall employment:

California's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in April, up 0.1 percentage point from the revised rate in March, and down 0.5 percentage point from one year ago. In comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in April remaining unchanged from the rate in March, and down 0.4 percentage point from one year ago.

There were 14,951,100 seasonally adjusted jobs in total nonfarm industries in April, down 2,600 jobs from last month. This followed a 13,400-job loss in March and a 31,400-job gain in February.

The second graph shows construction employment as a % of total employment in California. Note that "construction" includes non-housing related construction too - so this is just a general guide to the impact of the housing slowdown. Also, there are many other housing related jobs (real estate agents, mortgage brokers, etc.) that will also be impact by the housing slowdown.

For California, Dr. Thornberg estimates:

Construction employment will lose 200,000 jobs statewide over the next three years, with an additional unknown number of jobs lost in the informal sector.

This is just the beginning of the job losses.

For Arizona see: Housing decline triggers layoffs