Unemployment in the city of Los Angeles, August 2026

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jobs

Published

October 5, 2026

Unemployment rate in the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles metro since 1990, the city at 5.0% in August 2026.

Labor force of the city of Los Angeles since 1990, 2,046,993 in the latest month.

5.0% of the city of Los Angeles’s labor force was unemployed in August 2026, against 6.2% a year earlier. Across the whole metro area the rate was 4.8% in August 2026. The city’s highest rate in this record was 19.4%, in May 2020.

The city had 2,046,993 people in its labor force — working or looking for work, against 2,091,117 a year earlier.

Neither figure is seasonally adjusted — BLS publishes city estimates no other way — so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. The city figures are modelled by BLS from the metro and county estimates and revised each March.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Los Angeles city and the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area. Auto-generated each build.