SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom released the following statement regarding today’s May jobs report, which showed that California added 104,500 jobs in May – the fourth consecutive month of six-figure job gains, following the 102,000 jobs created in April, 132,400 jobs created in March and 156,100 jobs created in February:

“California continues to lead the nation’s economic recovery, adding 104,500 jobs in May, marking the fourth month in a row of six-figure job creation. Our health-centric approach has saved lives, resulting in one of the lowest case rates and the most vaccinations in the country – now we’re leading the nation in health and economic outcomes. We’ve regained more than half the jobs we lost over the past year, but there’s still a long way to go – that’s why we’re making historic investments in small business tax cuts and grants, tax rebates for two-thirds of California families and rent relief for those hardest hit by the pandemic.”

From February 2021 through May 2021, California added 495,000 total non-farm payroll jobs, making up nearly a quarter of the nation’s job growth and marking the state’s fourth consecutive month of gains of more than 100,000 jobs. Of the 2,714,800 jobs lost in March and April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, California has now regained 1,406,800, more than half. May’s unemployment rate is 7.9 percent, now less than half of the peak rate in April 2020.