Having increased by 6,300 in November, the net number of people living in San Francisco with a paycheck ticked up by 2,600 in December to 549,400, dropping the local unemployment rate to 3.0 percent with 42,700 more employed residents in the city than there were at the end of 2020.
That being said, there are still 21,400 fewer employed people in San Francisco than there were prior to the pandemic and 17,300 fewer people in the labor force, but 70,700 jobs have been recovered since the pandemic hit and over 30,000 people have returned to the local labor force.
At the same time, the number of East Bay residents with a paycheck ticked up by 7,000 in December to 1,495,400, which equates to 65,400 more employed residents than there were at the end of 2020 but still 64,100 fewer than there were prior to the pandemic, with 48,800 fewer people in the labor force, for an unemployment rate of 4.2 percent.
Employment in both San Mateo and Santa Clara ticked up at the end of 2021 as well, by 1,800 and 5,900 respectively. As such, there were 95,300 more employed people in the Valley at the end of last month (1,445,900) than there were at the end of 2020. But there are still 32,200 fewer employed people in the Valley than there were prior to the pandemic, with 26,200 fewer people in the labor force (1,488,400) and an average unemployment rate of 2.9 percent.
Total employment across Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties actually slipped by 2,800 in December to 432,100, representing 21,600 fewer employed North Bay residents than there were prior to the pandemic but 29,200 more than there were at the end of 2020 for an average unemployment rate of 3.3 percent, but with 19,400 fewer people in the combined labor force (447,000) than there were in early 2020.
As such, while 511,600 jobs have been recovered across the Bay Area since local employment bottomed in the second quarter of 2020, including 235,100 in 2021, there are still 139,300 fewer employed Bay Area residents (3,922,800) than there were prior to the pandemic having hit (4,062,100) and the labor force is still down by 111,700, for an average unemployment rate of 3.4 percent versus 2.3 percent at the end of 2019.
It would interesting to see the Bay Area available job openings plotted against these numbers as well. I can only assume by the number of job wanted signs that the number of employed would be higher if the available labor force was higher due to the availability of jobs.
To address the reduction in available work force I would rather see California budget target help for childcare versus just more blanket stimulus with the latest budget surplus as I see those who retired early staying early for another year or two. At some point, I’m sure their is a group of early retirements who miscalculated and will be seeking jobs at some point.
Absolutely mind boggling that Alameda County still has an eviction moratorium with unemployment below 3%. Some tenants haven’t paid rent since March 2020 without repercussions!
3% is the SF rate…4.2% is the Eastbay rate (which is as close as you’ll get to Alameda County from the data here)
Of course your mind is free to boggle if it wants, as even that is pretty low.
The unemployment rate for Alameda County was 3.9 percent at the end of 2021. That’s versus 2.9 percent prior to the pandemic but with 34,600 fewer people employed and 27,400 fewer people in the Labor Force.
The only people not working now are those who choose not to. I’m willing to bet there are at least 34,600 entry level positions available for the taking in Alameda County, but there are few takers.
So I share the boggled mind that the eviction moratorium remains in place.