Redwood City's Latest Unemployment Rate Is Again Far Lower Than State Average, Data Shows

REDWOOD CITY, 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.

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

Here in Redwood City in particular, the rate fell from 2.7 percent to 2.5 percent, according to preliminary estimates. Some 1,300 of the city's 50,000-strong labor force were without jobs in February, the data indicates.

Elsewhere in San Mateo County, the employment rates were as follows:

The changes follow a drop in the statewide unemployment rate. The state's non-seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in February was 5 percent, according to the EDD. In January, the statewide rate was 5.2 percent – which was revised from a preliminary figure of 5.1 percent.

Statewide, 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.

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 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.

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.

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

– Bay City News Service contributed to this report; Image Credit: Jae C. Hong/Associated Press