California’s job market continues to suffer from largely self-inflicted wounds, despite the fact that the overall economy is growing.

In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom projected that California’s economy had grown larger than Japan’s, making it the fourth largest in the world (if it were its own economy, which it’s not).

But those macro gains don’t necessarily mean that much to everyday Californians, as once again the state leads the nation in unemployment at 5.5% (behind only Washington, D.C.). California just rose to the top of the list in February this year, but has for decades outpaced the national average in terms of unemployment.

That is bad. But things are so much worse than that.

Between January 2024 and July 2025, the state lost approximately 2,600 jobs. Perhaps that doe

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