Having benefited from a seasonal bump in July, the number of people living in San Francisco with a paycheck, which is now estimated at 573,600, was unchanged in August. But with the labor force having since shed 1,100 people, the unemployment rate in the city has dropped from 2.4 to 2.3 percent.
As such, total employment remains within a percent (1,800) of February’s record high, with 9,800 more people living in the city with paychecks than there were are the same time year (versus a year-over-year gain of 15,100 in August of 2018).
In Alameda County, which includes the City of Oakland, the estimated number of people living in the county with a paycheck slipped by 700 over the past month to a revised 826,900, which is 6,400 more employed residents than at the same time last year, and the unemployment rate dropped from 3.3 to 3.1 percent as the labor force shed 2,400 people.
Across the greater East Bay, including Solano County, total employment was effectively unchanged at 1,575,400 and 7,900 higher than at the same time last year, having dropped on a year-over-year basis in June and July, with an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent.
While the number of employed residents decreased by 800 up in Marin to 138,500, that’s still 700 more employed people on a year-over-year basis with an unemployment rate of 2.7 percent.
And down in the valley, employment in San Mateo County was unchanged at 453,600, which is still down by 1,500 since February but 7,500 more than at the same time last year with an unemployment rate of 2.6 percent, and employment in Santa Clara County inched up 300 to 1,035,200, which is within 1,600 of its February high and 13,300 more than at the same time last year, with an unemployment rate of 2.6 percent.
As such, total employment across the Bay Area was effectively unchanged from July (4,106,800) to August (4,106,100) but the unemployment rate dropped from 2.9 to 2.8 percent with a year-over-year gain in employment of 39,200 (versus a year-over-year gain of 66,800 at the same time last year and an average year-over-year gain of 50,000 since the start of this year).