This is Sidekick's data series, which covers the raw numbers behind life in Shasta County: jobs, pay, sales and housing. Each article is built from official public statistics. We report what the numbers show and explain what they measure, without editorializing.
The labor force in Shasta County came to 81,500 in September 2026, +700 (+0.9%) from a year earlier. The September 2026 figures are preliminary; the agency revises them, and the comparisons here are redone with the revised figures.
What this measures
The labor force counts civilians sixteen and older who have a job or are actively looking for one.
Why this metric matters
It shows how many people are working or trying to work, which matters to employers trying to hire. It can fall when people retire, move away or stop looking for work, even if unemployment stays low, so it adds context the unemployment rate leaves out. It is not a count of jobs gained or lost.
In context
Compared with a year earlier, the state's estimate for California changed −1.6%; the national labor force, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' household survey, changed −0.5%.
How we calculated this
Changes compare a period with the same period a year earlier.Show the formula
change = value(this period) − value(same period last year); % change = change ÷ value(same period last year) × 100
County figures are shown next to California and the United States for the same period, where the source publishes them.Show the formula
the same measure for California and the United States in the same period; where a change is shown for them, the same change formula
A change of less than 0.5% either way from a year earlier is reported as little changed.Show the formula
little changed when the size of the % change is under 0.5
The labor force is everyone working or looking for work. The national figure comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' household survey, which is measured differently from the state's county estimates.
These state estimates are not seasonally adjusted, so a month is best compared with the same month in other years.
Source: California EDD, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, data released 2026-10-16; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED, data released 2026-10-26.
