At the start of 2025, Los Angeles’ economy was much like California’s—demonstrating resilience despite major changes in recent years. Then devastating wildfires earlier this month took lives, destroyed homes and businesses, and led to massive displacement of residents across LA. While the immense costs of these losses continue to accumulate, we take stock of the region’s labor market leading up to the fires to understand underlying strengths and challenges as communities begin to recover.

Los Angeles County added over 45,000 jobs between December 2023–2024, growing by 1%. Nevertheless, Angelenos were pessimistic about their economic well-being, with 56% expecting bad times ahead financially, according to the December Statewide Survey. But while job growth was slower than the years immediately after the pandemic, 2024 was a better year for LA than 2023, when the region lost about 10,000 jobs. LA’s 2024 job growth mirrored California’s 1% growth, as the state added 185,800 jobs last year.

In 2024, health care jobs in LA grew the fastest (3.9%, similar to 4.2% statewide), while also being among the largest sectors in the region with over 826,000 jobs. Health care jobs in LA have grown steadily since the pandemic, partially driven by labor market responses to an aging population and increased health care coverage. The much smaller private education sector grew at a similar rate in LA as in the state (3.3% vs. 2.8%).

The information sector in LA—home to many Hollywood and tech jobs—grew slightly in 2024, adding about 2,000 jobs (1.4%). This change is notable for two reasons: the sector’s decline elsewhere in California contributed to the slowing statewide labor market in 2024, and LA experienced relatively big losses in information jobs during the pandemic (70,000 jobs lost) and again in 2023 (48,000 jobs lost).

Leisure and hospitality—the fifth largest sector of work in LA—grew a bit faster in 2024 compared to statewide, adding 7,000 jobs (1.3%). That marks slow and steady growth since the severe loss of jobs during the pandemic, but the sector is operating slightly below pre-pandemic levels.

Two other sectors important to the LA economy—trade, transportation, and utilities; and professional and business services—held relatively steady in 2024. The trade sector, which is the largest with over 860,000 jobs, added about 8,000 over the year. Professional and business services provided over 651,000 jobs as of December, a dip of just 1,000 from a year ago.

Manufacturing jobs in LA have not recovered those lost during the pandemic and have been declining since; the sector dropped almost 12,000 jobs over the past year (3.7%). The state followed a similar trend, losing a similar share of jobs in the sector.

Given these trends in LA’s business sectors, it’s not surprising that the unemployment rate today in LA is a bit higher than before the pandemic; unemployment has been increasing slowly since mid-2022.  As of December 2024, 6% of Angelenos were unemployed compared to 5.5% of Californians. In LA, 306,500 individuals were unemployed, or nearly a third (29%) of the state’s total.

Unemployment is more common among Black residents of LA, averaging 9.9% in 2024, almost triple the rate for Asians (3.4%) and double that for Latinos (5.5%). While white residents have a similar unemployment rate as the LA region overall (6%), the rate has increased the most among white residents over the past year (up 1 percentage point).

Looking at education, 7.6% of Angelenos without a high school diploma are unemployed compared to 4.4% of college graduates in 2024, which is a pattern seen statewide. Another common pattern is higher unemployment among the youngest and oldest workers in LA. While almost 10% of 20–24 year olds report unemployment, only 3.7% of workers age 45–54 do (though their rate has increased 1 point since a year ago).

Despite the recent uptick in unemployment, LA’s 2024 job growth is a promising sign of the region’s recent economic resilience. However, the devastation of the fires compounds economic challenges for impacted families, workers like those in child care and domestic work, and local businesses, including food service and entertainment. Ongoing relief efforts will be critical to mitigate longer term impacts. Closer examination of the region and highly impacted areas, including Pacific Palisades and Altadena, in the coming months will provide insight on how Angelenos are faring economically. Home to one-quarter of the state’s jobs, LA’s economic recovery from the wildfires has repercussions for the state and beyond.