Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA — September 2026
Healthcare carries LA's job growth as entertainment keeps sliding.
Los Angeles County unemployment held near 4.8-4.9% in August, but healthcare and social assistance supplied 38,800 of 37,900 net new jobs while total compensation growth of 3.3% trailed the 3.6-4.2% range in peer western metros.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- LA County unemployment rate: 4.8%-4.9% — vs 5.1% statewide, 4.1% national
- Share of job growth from healthcare/education: 38,800 of 37,900 jobs — all other sectors combined lost ~900 jobs
- Total compensation growth, LA metro: 3.3% YoY (June 2026) — vs 3.6%-4.2% in peer western metros
- National payroll growth, September: 29,000 jobs added — vs 45,000 12-month average, prior months revised down
Key takeaways
Healthcare is doing nearly all the county's job-growth work.
Education and health services accounted for 38,800 of the county's 37,900 net payroll gains over the year, meaning every other sector combined lost roughly 900 jobs. A local economy this dependent on one sector's expansion is more exposed to any slowdown in healthcare hiring or state healthcare spending than the headline job count implies.
Entertainment's slump is a structural drag, not a blip.
Entertainment employment sits at its lowest point in a decade outside 2020 and 2023, a signal distinct from the broader labor market stabilization story. Given the sector's historic weight in the regional economy, its continued contraction may be muting consumer-facing activity in adjacent industries like hospitality and retail even as those sectors post modest gains elsewhere.
Local pay growth is lagging the Western metro pack.
Total compensation costs rose 3.3% in Los Angeles through June versus 3.6-4.2% in other major western metros, with wage and salary gains of 2.8% also trailing peers. That relative softness, paired with a $18.42 city minimum wage already in effect, suggests upward wage pressure here is concentrated at the floor rather than broad-based.
County unemployment looks stable, but labor force data tells a murkier story.
Statewide, payroll counts show job growth even as a separate household survey reports fewer Californians employed and fewer in the labor force, a divergence UCLA economists have flagged as an 'employment recession' despite official unemployment holding near recent lows. Locally, this gap is worth tracking before reading county-level stability as unambiguous strength.
Median advertised pay by role — Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $35,152 | $39,520 | $42,640 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $33,959 | $38,480 | $41,600 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $36,400 | $41,080 | $43,554 | Stable | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $58,035 | $77,512 | $83,558 | Moderate increase | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $34,810 | $37,142 | $41,600 | Moderate decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $36,975 | $42,640 | $46,800 | Stable | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $60,762 | $76,243 | $83,188 | Significant increase | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $36,817 | $42,640 | $46,800 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $38,480 | $44,000 | $47,840 | Moderate increase | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $36,433 | $44,200 | $50,585 | Stable | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $41,808 | $46,800 | $49,920 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $40,560 | $49,920 | $56,248 | Moderate increase | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $62,400 | $74,897 | $81,120 | Stable | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $98,043 | $120,246 | $131,116 | Moderate increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $120,011 | $159,186 | $178,619 | Stable | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $100,000 | $146,737 | $159,362 | Moderate increase | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $63,102 | $77,500 | $86,002 | Moderate increase | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $77,970 | $99,700 | $107,500 | Stable | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $64,480 | $80,152 | $88,453 | Moderate increase | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $50,000 | $68,324 | $77,652 | Moderate increase | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager | $82,500 | $116,000 | $141,250 | Moderate decline | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $44,345 | $61,426 | $70,401 | Moderate increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $67,929 | $95,000 | $117,022 | Moderate increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager | $65,966 | $100,000 | $146,500 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $83,690 | $99,532 | $113,543 | Stable | $98,279 |
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Industry snapshot
| Sector | Median advertised pay | Pay trend | Postings trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $90,000 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $115,000 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $43,420 | Stable | Stable |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $63,459 | Significant increase | Moderate increase |
| Information | $106,943 | Significant increase | Moderate decline |
| Financial Activities | $94,685 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $86,070 | Significant increase | Moderate increase |
| Education & Health Services | $75,585 | Moderate increase | Moderate decline |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $41,600 | Stable | Stable |
| Government | $76,601 | Significant increase | Moderate decline |
Local market conditions
Los Angeles County's unemployment rate held near 4.8-4.9% in August, roughly a point below the statewide 5.1% reading, as healthcare and social assistance continued to supply nearly all net job growth while entertainment employment sat at its lowest level in a decade outside 2020 and 2023. Total compensation costs rose 3.3% year-over-year through June, trailing the 3.6-4.2% range seen in peer western metros, suggesting employers locally are facing less upward wage pressure than Seattle, Phoenix, or Denver even as the $18.42 city minimum wage took effect July 1.
What it means
Concentrated job growth in healthcare and public-adjacent services, alongside continued softness in entertainment and professional/business services statewide, points to an economy still expanding but on a narrower base than the headline payroll count suggests. For commerce leaders evaluating expansion or investment timing, the gap between stable aggregate unemployment and uneven sector performance argues for looking past the countywide number toward the specific industry composition of any planned activity. Government and economic development leaders should consider reviewing which sectors are actually absorbing labor force growth before treating the county unemployment rate as a uniform signal of local business climate strength.
Looking ahead
Potential inflection point: National payroll growth slowed sharply to 29,000 in September with downward revisions to July and August, while national wage growth fell to its lowest level since May 2021. Watch whether Los Angeles payroll gains, which have outpaced some peer metros, begin to track that national cooling in the October release.
Emerging pressure point: Entertainment employment has not recovered to pre-2020 norms and shows no clear turnaround signal this month. A continued drag here would weigh on consumer-facing retail and hospitality activity even as healthcare keeps aggregate numbers positive.
Worth watching: California's $3 million allocation tied to the Valero Benicia refinery closure signals state attention to regional economic transition costs; any similar displacement event in the LA basin, given ongoing information-sector and financial-activities softness statewide, would be a test of how quickly displaced workers re-enter the local labor force.
Expected: Los Angeles minimum wage rose to $18.42 in July and California's statewide floor rises to $17.40 in January 2027. Commerce leaders should expect continued compression at the lower end of advertised pay ranges across retail, food service, and warehouse roles as these floors converge.
Methodology
Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
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