Unemployment in Silicon Valley zooms to 6.9 per cent
22 Nov 2008
The unemployment rate in Silicon Valley rose to 6.9 per cent in October from 4.9 per cent a year-ago, well below the 8.2 per cent rate for the state of California but above the 6.1 per cent for the nation as a whole, government data showed.
There number of people seeking jobs in the valley stood at around 63,400, up 46 per cent from a year ago, even as the number of employed people rose, figures released by the state Employment Development Department showed.
The department attributed the rise in jobless to a big jump in the number of new arrivals on the job market.
The number of government jobs has gone up by 3,000 over the year while local and state governments added 3,200 jobs in the education sector and city government added 200 jobs even as state government (other than schools) reported a loss of 400 jobs.
Private educational and health services added 2,700 jobs over the year while private schools and health care contributed 1,100 jobs and social assistance firms added 500 jobs.
The information sector added 800 jobs, continuing to add for the 56th month in a row, aided mostly by the rise in number of software publishers.
But retail trade (down 2,600 jobs), construction (down 2,100 jobs), financial activities (down 1,100 jobs), and leisure and hospitality (down 700 jobs) continued to shed jobs.
Region wise, the unemployment rate was the highest for San Benito County at 9.1 per cent in October against 6.9 per cent in Santa Clara County.
In the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City metropolitan statistical area, unemployment was 5.6 per cent in October, above the year-ago estimate of 4 per cent. The rate was 5.4 per cent in San Mateo County.
The unemployment rate in Santa Cruz County was 6.5 per cent, above the year-ago estimate of 4.7 per cent. And in Monterey County the rate was 7.1 per cent in October 2008, above the year-ago estimate of 5.3 per cent.
The number of people seeking unemployment claims during one week in October stood at 527,918, up from 500,962 the previous month and 335,930 during the same time last year.
The valley's employment rate also rose. There are now 921,200 jobs here, the largest number for October since 2001, reflecting gains in the information, education and health, and government sectors.
