Having dropped to a record low of 1.9 percent in May, the unemployment rate in San Francisco inched up to 2.3 percent in June as the number of people living in the city with a paycheck fell by 3,400 to 565,800, which is down by 9,600 since February’s record high and versus an increase of 3,900 from February to June of last year.
That being said, there are still 129,100 more employed people living in San Francisco than there were at the start of 2010, and 7,200 more than at the same time last year, but the rate of change in employment has been negative in San Francisco over the past quarter, which shouldn’t catch any plugged-in readers by surprise.
In Alameda County, which includes the City of Oakland, the estimated number of people living in the county with a paycheck fell by 5,200 over the past month to 818,500, which is down by 10,400 over the past quarter and down by 1,300 versus the same time last year, representing the first year-over-year decline in Alameda County employment since January of 2010.
Across the greater East Bay, including Solano County, the unemployment rate inched up to 3.2 percent as total employment dropped by 9,800 to 1,560,300, which is 5,900 below its mark at the same time last year, representing the first year-over-year decline in employment since 2010 as well.
Up in Marin, the number of employed residents decreased by 400 in June to 137,000, which is down by 100 versus the same time last year, and the unemployment rate inched up to 2.4 percent.
And down in the valley, employment in San Mateo County fell by 2,900 in June to 447,200, which is down by 7,800 since February but still 5,400 more than at the same time last year, with an unemployment rate of 2.2 percent, and employment in Santa Clara County fell by 2,200 to 1,026,700, which is down by 10,100 since February and only 3,700 more than at the same time last year, which is the smallest increase since 2009, with an unemployment rate of 2.6 percent.
As such, the unemployment rate for the Bay Area as a whole has inched up to 2.8 percent with a total of 4,063,500 people employed, which is 55,400 fewer since February and versus an increase in employment by 29,100 from February to June of last year.
And now, for an opposing opinion.
Once again, we report employment in the absolute, not “seasonally adjusted” numbers or an “opinion,” which is why we offer year-over-year and same period comparisons as well (which you might note are missing from the East Bay Times’ report).
And once again, while a seasonal adjustment can help smooth month-over-month changes, it can distort the underlying trend and more immediate changes at hand. Not to mention, in the context of real estate and demand, the actual number of people with a paycheck is more relevant than the theoretical number of people, having been seasonally adjusted.
Speaking of which, despite the apparently “surging” job market, and an actual drop in mortgage rates, Bay Area home sales are actually down nearly 10 percent on a year-over-year basis through the first five months of the year. Weird, huh?
My apologies: I forgot the editors – and perhaps the audience – are perhaps too young to remember this used to be a common expression on television when people presented two contradictory statements (atlho, now that I think about it, ‘opposing view’ may have been the more common expression).
That having been said, I still find it amusing that month-in-and-month-out two news outlets in the same area put out headlines that – seem to – contradict one another (however valid a reason there may be for it)… I would think that once – just by chance – they would match.