The employment data is skewed to lower the actual real estate and construction jobs, because many of them are private contractors and don’t show up on the payroll surveys. CA has 1.5 million employees who are not counted in the payroll survey, and 20% are believed to be in construction and real estate. Landscapers and cosmetologists are other big groups in that sector.
If you add the informal employment, which is 10% of CA employment, the picture for RE job loss is much worse.
