The Employment Development Department today published its annual Labor Day Briefing, which examines state and regional labor market trends and details California’s in-demand occupations.

California gained an average of 105,500 nonfarm jobs per month during the 15-month recovery from April 2020 to July 2021 — a level of job growth not seen since the current tracking method was introduced in 1990.

Before the pandemic, the largest monthly job gain on record was 98,500 in April 2016.

Growth has averaged over 111,000 jobs gained per month this year.

The department also analyzed thousands of job postings across California to identify the most in-demand occupations.

Registered nurses and general and operations managers top the list of high-skill occupations that are in demand — with just over 20,000 recent job postings for nurses and over 8,000 job postings for managers.

Truck driving has also seen steady growth with 8,400 job postings statewide. Demand for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks also remains strong with 4,400 job ads posted.

Retail salespersons, laborers, and freight and stock workers are among the entry-level jobs requiring a high school diploma or less that are in high demand.

California hit a peak unemployment rate of 16% (April 2020) during the pandemic, which was quickly followed by unemployment falling in every region of the state.

California’s recovery, which turned 15 months old in July 2021, has featured rapidly falling unemployment and robust job growth.

Leisure and hospitality posted the largest industry sector job gain from April 2020 to July 2021, adding 558,500 jobs.

Statewide, regional employment also strengthened, with every region showing year-over job gains as of July 2021.

Los Angeles had the largest year-over gain (242,800 jobs), followed by Orange (116,400) and Bay-Peninsula (98,600).