Job market in the East Bay remains rosy, hitting record

Alameda and Contra Costa counties added 5,600 workers, the highest November total since state began keeping track

By Janis Mara

MEDIANEWS STAFF

The East Bay job market continues to roll along, hitting a record high for the month of November, according to numbers released Friday.

The East Bay's_ Alameda and Contra Costa counties _ added 5,600 jobs, the highest November total on record. This also marks the fifth-consecutive month with record jobs compared with the same month in the prior peak of 2000 or 2001, according to data from the state Employment Development Department.

Bucking the trend of slower job growth nationally and statewide, the East Bay added 20,100 jobs, or 1.9 percent, between last month and November 2005.

"The East Bay is leading the state in terms of how its economy is chugging along," said Sean Snaith, a consultant for the University of the Pacific's Business Forecasting Center. "Of the Bay Area economies, the East Bay is probably the strongest."

Compared with the prior 16 years, the East Bay posted a slightly larger-than-usual job gain between October and November, said Ruth Kavanagh, labor market consultant for the Employment Development Department.

"But the big news is that this is the highest November total since we began keeping track in 1990," she said.

The unemployment rate in the Oakland-Fremont-Hayward area was 4.2 percent in November 2006, up from 3.9 percent in October 2006, but below the year-ago rate of 4.7 percent.

Snaith shrugged off the month-to-month hop in unemployment.

"It's hard to extrapolate a trend from a month-to-month movement," the consultant said, adding that he didn't see the change as significant.

Overall, he said, "When a lot of the state was booming in housing, the Bay Area was not adding jobs at the same pace. Things have started to catch up and nonresidential construction has been pretty strong in the Bay Area, making up for the dip in residential construction," Snaith said. "We're a little late to the party, and not ready to leave yet."

California's unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent in November, up from 4.5 percent in October, but down from 5.1 percent in November 2005. The October rate was the state's lowest level since the current employment data series was established in 1976.

The state added 156,600 jobs, up 1.1 percent, compared with November last year. California started the year in January with 2 percent year-over-year job growth. It slipped to 1.6 percent in June and has continued to slide.

Nine of the 11 major industry categories experienced job gains in November. The information industry, led by film production and sound recording, showed the largest gains on a month-over-month basis. That category added 3,600 jobs.

Reach Janis Mara of the Oakland Tribune at 510-208-6468 or jmara@angnewspapers.com.