Job growth in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties (think executive and high-tech) have pushed the unemployment rate for those areas to between 3.9% and 4.4%, or, as it is sometimes called, the level of full employment. Tech and higher-end executive employment is also pushing up employment in other sectors that serve those arenas. The stats continue skewed, however, by more rapid growth in employment than the labor force. On a year-over-year basis, the labor force is not showing signs of an economic recovery. As I asked last September… where have the people gone? The Bay Area labor force has grown by just 0.3% over the past year while it has actually fallen by -0.1% statewide.

Looking down the tunnel of unemployment as a percentage rate gives you a narrow sense of the economic picture.

See SF Bay Area Employment Trends page above