California's economy continues to hum along nicely.
The world's fifth largest economy has seen its unemployment rate fall to 4.2 percent, a new low in records dating back to 1976.
The state Employment Development Department announced Friday that employers added more than 39,000 nonfarm payroll jobs last month, which helped push the unemployment rate in California down from 4.3 percent in March. According to the report, there were around 815,000 unemployed Californians during April, down 13,000 from March, and a decrease of 139,000 as compared to this time last year.
Economists say Californians can expect a robust economy through the rest of 2018. According to Beacon Economics Economists, Robert Kleinhenz, California is on track to continue the growth we've seen for the rest of the year.
"It'll be bumping up against some constraints, mainly in the form of labor force growth, which has slowed a little bit as we've reached full employment." Kleinhenz said. "But the state and its regions are poised to grow throughout 2018. There's every expectation that will continue into 2019."
The strong economy is due to a diverse series of businesses and services scattered around the state. However, while job growth will likely continue through the year, other experts warn that the shifting political winds in Washington could make trouble for the Golden State's golden economy.
``With (President Donald) Trump's policies decidedly reducing immigration, net domestic migration to California would be required,'' Jerry Nickelsburg, director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, wrote in his forecast of California's economy.
But experts agree, the biggest challenge California's economy faces right now is the lack of sufficient housing.
``In other words, expect relatively slow growth in California, just slightly above the U.S. through the next few years with a tilt, a slight tilt, towards more new home construction,'' Nickelsburg wrote.