The pace of the state's job growth, on an annual basis, had long lagged behind that of the nation. But with particularly strong gains the last three months, employers have pushed year-over-year growth to 2.6% ? nearly twice the U.S. rate.
Still, the July increase wasn't enough to reduce the jobless rate, which remained unchanged at 10.7%, according to data Friday from the state Employment Development Department.
"California is gaining momentum," said Esmael Adibi, director of the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University. "This report was a very good report ... indicative of a continuation of the growth."
In the last three months, a net total of 116,100 jobs have been created, after the state employment agency revised June's job gains to 45,000 from its initially reported increase of 38,300.
July's gains were broad-based, with six sectors improving. The professional and business services area, which includes high-paying jobs in accounting and legal fields, reported the biggest gains, totaling 15,200 jobs.
The economic recovery, though, has been uneven, with much of the growth concentrated in the north and the coastal areas.
Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, for instance, have been buoyed by growth in the technology sector, while the Inland Empire and the Central Valley still languish after the housing bust hit those regions especially hard.
And despite the job growth, nearly 2 million Californians remained unemployed last month. In addition, the labor force shrank by 52,500 in July as some job seekers quit looking for work.
"I know people are disappointed with the unemployment rate still being so high, but to bring that down we need to see much more job creation to make a significant dent," Adibi said.
Since the recovery began in mid-2009, California employers have added a total of 507,200 non-farm jobs.
"California continues to surprise us in our positive direction," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at Cal State Channel Islands in Camarillo. "This is a ray of sunshine in an otherwise lackluster economic growth in the United States."
Net losses hit four sectors, including construction and manufacturing. The worst hit was the trade, transportation and utilities sector, which shed 8,000 positions.
For only the second time this year, state and local governments posted a modest gain as they wrestled with ravaged budgets and slashed payrolls. Last month, they reported a net gain of 1,200 jobs.
Other sectors showing gains included education and health services with 10,300 jobs and leisure and hospitality, which added 6,400 jobs as summer tourism in California grew this year.
"People vacation more in the U.S. rather than overseas," Sohn said. "And one of the places they come to is clearly California. We've been seeing hotel occupancy rates move up."
Manufacturing, once leading an economic recovery nationwide, lost 3,100 positions in California last month. Those job losses signal that the slowing U.S. and global economies are beginning to have an effect on the state, economists said.
"For the next few months, we expect to see U.S. consumers be a bit more cautious, and that affects California goods," said Jerry Nicklesburg, a UCLA economist.
He said that Europe's debt crisis and an economic slowdown in China are expected to be "a drag on California's economy."
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