Santa Clara County Unemployment Falls To 3.5 Percent: EDD

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA -- The unemployment rate in each of the Bay Area's nine counties dropped in February compared with January, according to data from the California Employment Development Department.

In Santa Clara County, the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, while Contra Costa, Alameda and Sonoma counties saw rates of 4.1 percent, 3.9 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.

The changes follow a drop in the statewide unemployment rate, which fell three tenths of a percent to 5.2 percent, according to data not adjusted for seasonal factors.

Seasonally adjusted data show a statewide unemployment rate of 5 percent, down from 5.2 percent in January.

The highest unemployment rate in the Bay Area was in Solano County at 5.4 percent, but that was down from 5.6 percent the month before.

Nonfarm payroll jobs, which exclude jobs in farming, the self-employed who are not incorporated, employment in private households and jobs in military and intelligence agencies, jumped by 22,900 throughout the area.

The Bay Area lost jobs in January and while it did not lose jobs in February, growth could stall because of the housing and transportation crunch, Bay Area Economic Institute research manager Patrick Kallerman said.

"I really think it's a wait and see," he said about a stall.

But in the San Francisco-San Mateo metro area there appears to be room for job growth, Jorge Villalobos, labor market consultant for the Employment Development Department, said.

"The trend suggests that job growth could continue," Villalobos said.

San Mateo County, which has the lowest unemployment rate in the nine-county area, saw unemployment dip to 2.8 percent from 2.9 percent.

San Francisco's unemployment rate in February at 3 percent is a record low, besting a 3.2 percent rate in 1999, just before the dot-com boom, according to Employment Development Department data.

The largest drop in the unemployment rate among Bay Area counties was in Napa County where the rate dropped to 4.2 percent from 4.8 percent.

The unemployment rate in Marin County was 3 percent in February, down from 3.2 percent in January.

Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via Shutterstock