Why is This Important?
The unemployment rate is a basic indicator of the economic health of a community. Unemployment rates fluctuate with economic cycles and vary across regions and communities. Unemployed individuals are unable to earn enough to meet financial obligations, may lack employer-sponsored health insurance, could be at risk of losing their home or forced into substandard housing, and have increased risk of social and health problems.
What is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where the unemployment rate is low, jobs fit the skills and experience of worker, and the unemployed have access to training and other resources to help them find employment.
How Are We Doing?
• In 2009, the impacts of the national economic recession could be clearly seen in the rising unemployment rate of the county. The unemployment rate for San Mateo County was 8.6 percent, the highest rate in the last 20 years. The average number of unemployed workers at a given time in 2009 was 32,800 individuals.
• Despite the increase, the San Mateo County unemployment rate continued to be lower than either the state or federal rates of 11.7 and 9.3 percent respectively, a trend seen in each of the last 10 years.
• The unemployment rate may not provide a complete picture of the labor market. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates an "underemployment rate" which includes workers who are unemployed or involuntarily working parttime or "marginally attached." While data at the county level are not available, this rate was 21.1 percent for the state of California in 2009, compared with 11.7 percent for "traditional" unemployment.
• At the end of 2009, San Mateo County had the second lowest unemployment rate of all counties in the state. (Marin County had the lowest.)
• The unemployment rate increased in every city in the county in 2009. East Palo Alto had the highest unemployment rate at 19.7 percent, while the North Fair Oaks CDP (an unincorporated portion of the county adjacent to Redwood City and Menlo Park) had the second highest rate at 16.7 percent. Hillsborough continues to have the lowest unemployment rate in the county at 3.4 percent.
• Seven cities or census-designated places had unemployment rates of 10 percent or higher in 2009. In 2006 and 2007 there were none.
