Politics & Government

Unemployment Rate Rises Slightly

The jobless rate ticked upward in March in most East Bay cities.

After an encouraging February, the unemployment rate in the East Bay edged upward in March.

The state Employment Department Department reported today the jobless rate in Alameda County inched up to 10.8 percent, a little higher than the 10.7 percent recorded in February.

The jobless rate in neighboring Contra Costa County bumped up to 11.2 percent last month, a slight increase over the 11 percent rate recorded in February.

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In California, unemployment now stands at 12.3 percent, up slightly from a revised figure of 12.2 percent for February.

Livermore saw its jobless rate slightly rise to 7.1 percent last month from up from 7 percent in February.

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Across the county, the city of Alameda's unemployment rate inched up to 7.4 percent from 7.3 percent in February.

Castro Valley's jobless rate rose slightly to 6.4 percent from 6.3 percent.

The Cherryland area near San Lorenzo still has the second highest unemployment rate in the region, behind only Oakland. Its jobless rate is now 15.6 percent, up from 15.4 percent in February.

San Lorenzo's jobless rate is now 8 percent, up from 7.9 percent.

The unemployment rate in San Leandro ticked up to 10.7 percent from 10.5 percent.

Dublin recorded a jobless rate of 6.6 percent, up from 6.5 percent.

Pleasanton now has a 5.5 percent unemployment rate, slightly higher than the 5.4 percent recorded in February.

Union City has a 10.1 percent unemployment rate, up from 10 percent.

Newark saw its jobless rate rise to 10.1 percent last month from 9.9 percent in February.

State officials reported a slight drop in the total number of jobs in Alameda and Contra Costa County. In February, there were 941,200 jobs in the two counties. Last month, there were 939,600.

Leisure and hospitality services lost 900 jobs while trade, transportation and utilities had 700 fewer jobs. The retail trade industry shed another 1,100 jobs after losing 1,300 in February.

The manufacturing, professional and business sector gained 500 jobs while private education and health services added 400 jobs. Government jobs also rose by 400.

In February, the two counties had a net gain of 5,700 jobs.

Jorge Villalobos, a labor market consultant for the state EDD, said the labor market shrunk last month in Alameda and Contra Costa County, along with the number of jobs.

He said the leisure and hospitality sectors generally see an increase in jobs from February to March, but last month it actually lost 900 jobs.

In addition, the manufacturing, professional and business industry will usually gain 1,200 jobs from February to March, but it only 500 jobs last month.


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