California workers ended 2024 with the nation’s fifth-largest pay raises, despite sluggish job creation.

My trusty spreadsheet looked at a fourth-quarter tally of workers and wages by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that’s taken from a review of employers’ unemployment insurance filings for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. These stats are considered a more reliable snapshot of employment patterns compared with the monthly surveys released shortly after a month ends.

However, these quarterly stats take time to prepare. Thus, we’re talking about job market conditions at the end of last year as we approach the middle of 2025.

Caveat noted, the quarterly statistics show that California bosses were relatively generous with their workers at year-end, upping average weekly wages by 6.5% over 12 months. That topped the nation’s 5% raises, and was topped by only four other states. No. 1 was Wyoming with 12.4% raises, then Washington state at 8.7%, Idaho at 8.3%, and Oregon at 6.6%.

The outsized pay hikes might help explain the “who can afford this?” debate. Those who have generous bosses.

Still, anxieties swirl around a state economy where consumers battle the long-running, lofty cost of living – plus more recently, pesky high inflation. And large pay hikes only ferment further inflation.

Nationally, the stingiest bosses were in Louisiana, who gave only 2.8% raises late last year. Next was Iowa at 3.2%, New Hampshire at 3.3%, New Jersey at 3.4%, and West Virginia at 3.4%.

And California’s major economic rivals? Texas pay hikes ranked No. 26 at 4.3%. Florida was No. 13 at 5.7%.

Significant checks

The year-end pay increases boosted California’s weekly wage to $1,872. That’s 24% above the nation’s $1,507 and fifth-highest nationally.

The biggest paydays were in D.C at $2,495, then Washington state at $1,897, Massachusetts at $1,890, and New York at $1,881. Texas was No. 13 at $1,488 and Florida, No. 20 at $1,405.

Meanwhile, the lowest wages were in Mississippi at $1,023, then Arkansas at $1,153, West Virginia at $1,159, Oklahoma at $1,168, and South Dakota at $1,181.

Slow staffing

Yes, many Californians make serious money. But one reason 2025’s skittishness is elevated is that opportunities seem limited.

For example, California employment growth was below par as 2024 ended. California employment grew just 0.5% over 12 months, ranking a middling No. 28 among the states and below the 0.8% growth rate nationally.

By the way, California’s high-profile monthly job reports showed 0.7% annual employment growth in the same period. Another reason for consumer nervousness may be that the employment picture was weaker than we knew as 2025 began.

It’s a reasonable bet that the new White House administration, with let’s call them non-traditional ideas about the economy, may have caused bosses to take a wait-and-see approach to staffing their businesses.

Nationally, the fourth quarter’s fastest job creators were from Alaska, up 1.7% in a year. Next were Maryland and Rhode Island at 1.6%, then Delaware, New York, and Texas at 1.5%. Florida was No. 15 at 0.9%.

Jobs were being lost in five places as 2024 closed: Iowa, down 0.6%, D.C., off 0.5%, Massachusetts, 0.4% lower, Colorado, off 0.3%, and Michigan, down 0.1%.

And despite a meager count of new workers, California was again the No. 1 U.S. job market at year-end 2024 with 18.2 million employed, 12% of all US workers.

After the Golden State comes Texas at 14.1 million, Florida at 10 million, New York at 9.8 million and Illinois at 6.1 million.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com