The Abridged version:
- State and local governments continue to buoy the Sacramento region’s job market, but the region is not getting the benefit from boom sectors like artificial intelligence and other tech industries. Retail and financial sectors also are declining in the region.
- Federal policies on immigration and tariffs have hurt the job market statewide, analysts say.
- Job seekers can find help at the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency. One way to know what jobs are hot in the region is to follow what programs the community colleges are offering.
Denise Higgins struggled to find steady work in Sacramento since she relocated from the Bay Area 10 years ago and a transfer with the transportation company she worked for fell through.
She cobbled together work from Door Dash, Instacart and temporary staffing agencies through the pandemic, but that dried up in the past few years. She kept looking for work but had to go on public assistance to stay afloat.
“I couldn’t even get a fast food job,” she said.
Higgins turned to the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency for help. The agency, which mainly serves lower-skilled job seekers, helped Higgins update her resume, polish her interviewing skills and apply for jobs. She landed a job in September as a service worker at Sacramento Regional Transit, where she services and cleans buses. It took a year from the time she first applied to get hired, and she is thrilled with the work.
SETA “got my foot in the door so I could come through,” Higgins said.
Higgins is one of many.
Sacramento’s unemployment rate is at its highest since October 2021 –– 5.4% as of the most recently available data from August.
Job scene in Sacramento a double-edged sword
It’s been creeping up since hitting a low in early 2022 as the economy bounced back from the pandemic and it’s not going to get much better any time soon, according to job forecasts. Sacramento’s job market has plenty in common with the state and the nation — flat job growth and layoffs in some sectors like business and financial services.
But it’s a mixed bag. Unemployment is lower in the region than in California as a whole, but higher than the national rate. And the dominance of health care and government employers in the region is a double-edged sword, said Sanjay Varshney, business professor at Sacramento State University. The good news is that jobs in those sectors are growing. The bad news is that the relatively small tech sector in the region means the broad tech and artificial intelligence boom isn’t making a big difference here. At the same time, some lower wage sectors are lagging.
Filter those factors through a Dec. 3 forecast from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Well-paying jobs in AI and aerospace are growing in California, but they aren’t a large part of the Sacramento economy. Meanwhile, growth is lagging in construction, food and apparel, leisure and hospitality, and government-funded services like Medicaid, the forecast said. These lagging occupations are more likely to affect the region’s job market.
Federal policies add to state’s job woes, forecast says
Federal policies including tariffs and deportations are also contributing to weak job growth and higher prices that will continue into 2026 “even as the state continues to outpace the nation in overall productivity,” according to the UCLA forecast.
Updated unemployment and jobs numbers are expected to come out in mid-December now that the federal government shutdown has ended. The shutdown delayed September data, and October data will be incomplete, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said. California typically releases unemployment data in the third week of December, but its next report hasn’t been set yet, state Employment Development Department Research Data Specialist Cara Welch said.
Government, health care jobs soften the blow
The significant footprint of state and local government in the region softens the flat jobs outlook that applies more broadly to the state and nation. The four-county area is home to 243,700 state and local government workers, which is 20,000 more than in 2019, according to EDD. The only negative for the government sector is the 200 federal jobs lost in the region through the Department of Government Efficiency’s recent downsizing.
Health care is the second largest source of jobs, with 193,500 employees at Sutter Health, UC Davis, Kaiser Permanente and others. Health care jobs have increased by 38,700 in the region since 2019, according to EDD.
Other regional bright spots include growth in manufacturing, and in trade, transportation, and utilities, which includes wholesalers and warehousing. But each of those sectors are about one-fifth the size of government employment, according to EDD.
Declining sectors include retail, financial services
Some of the declining sectors in the region match national trends. Jobs in retail trade, which includes car dealers, clothing and sporting goods retailers, and grocery stores, have dropped since 2019, as have jobs in financial activities and insurance, and professional and business services. Again, these sectors are far smaller than health care or government, according to EDD.
Track community colleges for job hints
One way to know what jobs are hot in the region is to follow what programs the community colleges are offering, said Frank Kobayashi, associate vice chancellor of instruction at Los Rios Community College District. Los Rios includes American River College, Cosumnes River College, Folsom Lake College, and Sacramento City College.
The colleges continually adjust what they offer because labor market data must show a demand for programs to qualify for state funding, he said. The community colleges focus mainly on middle-skill occupations that require at least some post-high school education and offer living wages or higher.
Top sectors include ag, water and environmental technology
An August 2025 report from the Centers of Excellence, a research arm of the state’s community colleges, named nine broad categories of priority jobs for the Sacramento region through 2028. These jobs are middle-skill, have growing demand and low turnover, and have a low risk of job losses due to automation.
Jobs in agriculture, water, and environmental technologies are projected to be the fastest growing category, according to the report. Others on the priority list are advanced manufacturing; advanced transportation and logistics; business and entrepreneurship; energy, construction and utilities; health; information technology and digital media; life sciences and biotechnology; and public safety.
Newly expanding programs in health care support roles at Los Rios reflect demand for health care workers in the region, Kobayashi said.
Starting in Fall 2026, Folsom Lake College will offer a radiology technician program, Sacramento City College will offer a cardiovascular technician program and Cosumnes River College a surgical tech program. The health care industry approached the colleges to push for the additions.
“All three of those programs developed because of labor market demand and industry demand,” Kobayashi said.
Weekend classes offered
As an example in another field, Sacramento City College is adding weekend class options to its heating, ventilation, and air conditioning program due to high demand, said Jennifer Laflam, interim associate vice president of instruction, economic & workforce development. Falling under the advanced manufacturing category, HVAC expertise is necessary in chip manufacturing, data centers, and other industrial settings in addition to residential settings.
Overall, enrollment at Los Rios is back to pre-pandemic levels. Kobayashi said the demand can be a proxy for a stronger job market and a sense among job seekers that they need to go to school to prepare for employment.
The center’s list from August 2025 also offers the top 25 jobs that require a bachelor’s degree, including registered nurses, software developers, civil engineers, and health services managers.
A similar list of top jobs in the region that don’t require post-secondary education but do require specialized training includes sales representatives, roofers, and refuse and recyclable materials collectors.
Like Higgins, Kenneth W. Hill also turned to SETA when he wanted to transition from truck driver to a role that would keep him off the road. Over the summer, SETA helped him update his resume and apply for jobs that focused more on his experience running a custom oak furniture shop, and with truck loading and unloading before he became a driver. Although he got offers to be a driver, he landed a job in September with Penske Logistics in Roseville, where he positions trailers at the warehouse. He said it’s exactly what he was hoping for.
“It’s a job trying to get the job,” Hill said. “But if someone really wants a job they can get one.”
Here’s a list of resources for job seekers:
- Sacramento Employment and Training Agency, Golden Sierra Workforce Board serving Placer, El Dorado, and Alpine counties, and YoloWorks serving Yolo County.
- Career and placement centers at community colleges and universities, which often serve alumni as well as students
- Job Fairs sponsored by organizations like SETA, local colleges, state government, and others
- Online job listings through LinkedIn, Indeed, or websites for specific professions
Laura Mahoney is a regular contributor, writing Dollars and Sense for Abridged.