Politics & Government
One Thousand New Unemployed East Bay Residents in June
The unemployment rates in Alameda and Contra Costa counties edged up slightly last month. Still, California added nearly 30,000 jobs in June, more than the country as a whole.
The unemployment rate in the Oakland-Fremont-Hayward metropolitan area was 10.9 percent in June, up ever so slightly from 10.2 in May, according to figures from the state Employment Development Department.
Compared to a year ago, there were nearly 5,000 fewer jobs available in the East Bay last month.
The number of unemployed Alameda County residents increased by 5,500 from May to June to reach a total of 80,900 out-of-work individuals as of last month, according to the data.
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In Contra Costa, the number of unemployed residents rose by 4,400 from May to June, reaching 57,000 jobless men and women as of last month.
Overall, California added nearly 30,000 jobs last month, beating the national job growth figure. On balance, the U.S. added just 18,000 jobs in June.
Find out what's happening in Alamedawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The national unemployment rate stands at a stagnant 9.2 percent.
As the recession drags on, employers are finding ways to increase productivity with fewer employees, said Scott Peterson, deputy director of the public-private East Bay Economic Development Alliance.
“When you increase productivity, that’s a good thing, but only in the measure of getting more done and spending less money,” Peterson said.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean there’s much more job creation.”
Peterson said he’s hopeful companies will start hiring again when the economy picks up, “but the difficulty is no one is really sure when that’s going to be,” he said.
Some economic sectors did better than others in June.
Most of the jobs created in the East Bay last month were in the professional and business services sector (2,900 jobs) and the leisure and hospitality sector (2,600 jobs), according to the state data.
The beleaguered construction industry added 1,800 jobs last month. Most of the jobs gained were specialty trade contractors (1,200 jobs) — double the average number gained in this sub-industry between May and June over the last 21 years, according to Cindy Sugrue from the EDD’s labor market information division in Concord.
Sugrue said this could be thanks to significant highway construction taking place in the East Bay.
Cuts to public school budgets over the past year have led to thousands of local jobs lost in that sector.
Local and state public schools lost a total of 3,400 jobs over the past year, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the jobs shed from state government payrolls since June 2010, according to the data.
At the same time, private educational and health services gained 3,500 jobs over the past year.
May Unemployment June Unemployment Area Name Number Rate Number Rate Alameda County 75,400 10.20% 80,900 10.90% Alameda city 2,700 7.00% 2,900 7.50% Albany city 400 4.40% 400 4.70% Ashland CDP 1,200 11.80% 1,300 12.50% Berkeley city 5,500 9.70% 5,900 10.30% Castro Valley CDP 1,800 6.10% 1,900 6.50% Cherryland CDP 1,000 14.70% 1,000 15.70% Dublin city 900 6.20% 1,000 6.60% Emeryville city 300 7.30% 300 7.80% Fairview CDP 300 6.30% 300 6.80% Fremont city 7,800 7.40% 8,400 7.90% Hayward city 7,800 11.40% 8,300 12.10% Livermore city 2,600 6.70% 2,800 7.10% Newark city 2,100 9.50% 2,200 10.10% Oakland city 30,400 15.40% 32,600 16.30% Piedmont city 300 5.30% 300 5.70% Pleasanton city 1,800 5.20% 1,900 5.50% San Leandro city 4,100 10.10% 4,400 10.70% San Lorenzo CDP 800 7.60% 800 8.10% Sunol CDP 100 10.60% 100 11.30% Union City city 3,200 9.60% 3,400 10.20% Source: California Employment Development Department, www.edd.ca.govGet more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
