San Francisco Labor Force, Employment and Unemployment Since 2000

With the state’s latest labor force revisions and refinements now complete, the estimated number of people living in San Francisco who have a job now measures 520,900, a nominal increase of 400 since the beginning of the year but also a new all-time high.

Since January of 2010, the number of employed residents in San Francisco has increased by 84,200, a 19 percent jump in just five years.  And the current unemployment rate in the city measures 3.6 percent, the lowest rate since 2000.

Compared to the height of the dot-com peak in December 2000, at which point the unemployment rate in San Francisco measured 3 percent with a labor force of 480,000 (versus an adjusted 540,500 today), there are 55,400 more people living in San Francisco with paychecks than there were before.

The unemployment rates in Marin and San Mateo have dropped below 4 percent, to 3.5 percent and 3.4 percent respectively, and the unadjusted unemployment rate for California has dropped to 6.5 percent.

8 thoughts on “S.F. Employment Hits New High, Unemployment At 15-Year Low”
  1. That chart – especially since about mid-2011 – explains SF housing and rent prices quite succinctly.

    1. Yes, but it’s only part of the story.

      2011 was indeed the year when everything started to turn around. The SF market had been plagued for 2 years with the double-whammy of high inventory and low confidence (due to economical uncertainty).

      In 2011 inventory was being churned little by little, until the turning point: December 2011. It was actually pretty mathematically amazing. RE does seldom obey pure math. Psychology often trumps logic. But in 2011 you could follow inventory / sales and see the turning point by a pure extrapolation of the lines.

  2. heh. just remembering when posters on here were categorically denying that every other new person one might meet in SF back in 2010 or so was in tech.

  3. Coincidentally, the NASDAQ just broke its March 10th, 2000 record today. Pretty amazing run.

    Is this a sign of a tech plateau? Reversal? The return of the craziness?

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