Preliminary July labor force data counts for San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties pegs the unemployment rates at 7.7%, 6.7% and 7.0% respectively, down 0.1 points in San Francisco and San Mateo, up 0.1 points in Marin.
On a revised basis, the number of unemployed in San Francisco fell by 200 in July (from 36,700 to 36,500) as the labor force increased by 4,500 (from 472,300 to 476,800) and the number of employed increased by 4,600 (from 435,700 to 440,300).
Employment in San Francisco is up by 24,900 workers on a year-over-year (YOY) basis but remains 25,200 workers below a December 2000 dot-com peak (at which point the unemployment rate in San Francisco measured 3 percent).
Overall unadjusted California unemployment increased to 10.9% in July as employment increased by 3,000 workers but the labor force increased by 41,600.
Monthly Labor Force Data for Counties: June 2012 (Preliminary) [EDD]
San Francisco Employment And Unemployment Both Tick Up In June [SocketsSite]
San Francisco Employment Trends And Dot-Com Context [SocketSite]

5 thoughts on “Employment In San Francisco Up By 4,600 In July, Up 24,900 YOY”
  1. so do I get this right…employment in San Francisco increased more than in the State as a whole? (4600 vs 3000). Wow.

  2. BTW, while we are still below the dotcom peak in employment, that was a very bubbly number, and also very brief. Normal prior to the peak (and after) was around 400K employed residents. Now we are ten percent above that number. No wonder real estate values are firming up in this island of prosperity within a state of woe.

  3. good news, no doubt.
    For perspective re housing, Riverside’s unemployment rate is 13% yet it saw 11% price gains (median) in the last year, double SF’s gains measured by median and triple Marin’s. Connecting anything to housing at this point is very weak.
    When SF’s unemployment rate is below 5%, then I’ll agree things are strong as opposed to just less weak. I hope we keep moving there.

  4. So we keep getting increased employment, but not much decrease in unemployment due to more folks entering SF’s labour market.
    Who wants to speculate — is this the result of folks moving into town — i.e. tech workers moving here for jobs — or is this the result of folks who were already here but had given up on looking for work getting back into the job market since there is more opportunity. If so, this would represent an erosion of the “shadow unemployment” numbers…..

  5. anon,
    It’s very hard to compare SF with Riverside. SF has 60% renters and a chunk of the other 40% living in prop 13 bliss. Hence very low volume and a sale market reserved to the upper crust of its citizen, who were likely employed 5 years ago, last year as well as today. Therefore unemployment does not have such a big leverage on house prices in SF. What matters most I think is the pay level of people in SF as well as how much available cash they have.
    Riverside is a very different animal. Its housing market relies on all stratas of society, like blue collar workers. They got hit really hard by both the housing crash AND the ensuing unemployment wave. Unemployment multipled the unavoidable collapse of prices (-50% and way more locally). Any small improvement at those levels will have a multiplying effect on housing.

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