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Kern County Labor Force Drops to 391,300 Workers in Q2 2024
Bakersfield-area employment dipped while nonfarm jobs edged higher in the latest reading from the Kern Economic Journal.
How we reported this
Bakersfield residents saw the local labor force fall from 396,967 in the first quarter of 2024 to 391,300 in the second quarter, according to the Kern Economic Journal. Civilian employment in the county slipped by 766 workers to 356,467 during the same period.
Why the quarterly shift matters for daily decisions
The drop arrives as households track paychecks, hiring and prices that shape everything from grocery budgets to home purchases in Kern County. A smaller labor force can signal fewer residents actively seeking work or leaving the area, which directly affects local retail sales and service demand in Bakersfield neighborhoods.
California State University Bakersfield publishes the quarterly journal to give county residents concrete numbers for planning. The publication draws on state employment data to show how national trends filter down to Kern’s mix of agriculture, energy and government jobs.
Numbers behind the local slowdown
Statewide, California’s unemployment rate eased to 5.2 percent in the second quarter from 5.3 percent in the first, while Kern County’s rate stood at 8.8 percent, among the five highest in the state. Nonfarm employment in the county rose by 2,900 positions even as overall employment declined. Nationally, real GDP grew at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the second quarter after a 1.4 percent gain in the first, with consumer spending on vehicles, healthcare and housing leading the increase.
Personal saving fell to $720.5 billion nationally in the second quarter from $777.3 billion in the first, and the personal saving rate settled at 3.5 percent. These figures help explain why some Bakersfield families feel tighter budgets despite the modest statewide job gains.
Residents can use the next Kern Economic Journal release, due in November, to compare hiring patterns in construction, manufacturing and services against their own job or business plans. Checking the latest county labor-force counts against personal finances gives a clearer picture of whether local conditions are stabilizing or shifting further.