2.1 million jobs have been created in the last six or seven years in California
Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown was asked during his recent appearance on NBC's Meet the Press why so many voters in the Golden State supported Hillary Clinton for president. Brown, a four-term governor, said the reason is simple: California’s job growth and prosperity. In doing so, Brown repeated a claim we rated True in January 2016 about just how many jobs have been created in the state in recent years. "People have jobs. 2.1 million jobs have been created in the last six or seven years," Brown said on March 26, 2017. "So, I think it’s that sense of economic security that makes the difference. If we had the same insecurity as Akron, Ohio, Hillary would not have gotten the votes she got in California." Brown makes his jobs claim at about the 1:30 minute mark in the video above. In his January 2016 State of the State Address, Brown accurately said "Two million new jobs have been created," in California since 2011. Below is an updated look at California’s job numbers and the research that continues to back up this claim. Our research Six years ago, in January 2011 when Brown returned to the governor’s office, California had 14.3 million nonfarm payroll jobs. As of February 2017, the state had nearly 16.7 million of those jobs, according to data tracked monthly by the California Employment Development Department and closely watched by economists. That’s an increase of about 2.34 million. So, if anything, Brown is understating the job growth. Compared with seven years ago, the state has added about 2.44 million jobs. This is a ‘net job creation’ total. Many jobs were also lost during this period, but they were outnumbered by the gross total gained. As with our fact check in 2016, we examined nonfarm payrolls jobs. Economists consider that category the most reliable because it eliminates farm employment, which fluctuates considerably. Everyone in the nonfarm category is listed on a payroll and considered an employee. Our ruling California Gov. Jerry Brown recently claimed on NBC's Meet the Press that "2.1 million jobs have been created" in the state in the last six or seven years. If anything, Brown slightly understated the number of net jobs created during that period. The total is closer to 2.34 million over the past six years, according to monthly job data tracked by the state and closely watched by economists. Brown made a similar claim that we rated True in January 2016. The numbers still add up in the governor’s favor. We rated it True. TRUE – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
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