Preliminary December labor force data counts for San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties pegs the unemployment rate at 9.2%, 7.9% and 8.3% respectively, down 0.4 percentage points in San Francisco and San Mateo, down 0.3 percentage points in Marin.
On a revised basis, the number of unemployed in San Francisco fell by 2,400 in December (from 43,800 to 41,400) as the number of employed decreased by 1,900 (from 411,100 to 409,200) and the labor force contracted by 4,300 (from 454,900 to 450,600).
Overall unadjusted California unemployment fell by 0.1 percentage points to 12.3% as the labor force contracted by 102,300 workers while the ranks of the unemployed fell by 33,400.
∙ Monthly Labor Force Data for Counties: December 2010 (Preliminary) [EDD]
∙ San Francisco County Unemployment Ticks Up To 9.6% In November [SocketSite]
I have to wonder if the labor force contraction reflects a seasonal/holiday distortion- There’s a 1-2% loss of labor force in every Bay Area county! Last year the SF labor force was 444.6K in Nov, and 441.8K in Dec, so it appears a similar phenomenon occurred last year.
It wouldn’t surprise me if many unemployed workers stopped looking for work in December to take an extended trip to see the parents, friends, etc., thereby removing themselves from the labor pool.
Thanks for focusing on more than the headline number SS! The devil is in the details…