According to California’s Employment Development Department, San Diego’s unemployment rate in March 2013 dropped to 7.7 percent – down from a revised 8 percent in February. This is the lowest it has been since December 2008.
Over the month, the area gained a net of 8,300 jobs to bring the non-farm employment to 1.275 million. Over the full 12 months to March, the area showed a net gain of 32,600 jobs, up 2.6 percent from the March 2012 total employment number.
Tina Ngo, Research Manager of the San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP) has reviewed the data and notes, “Increased median home prices, consumer confidence, and number of jobs are all great news, but SDWP still has a lot of work to accomplish. Keep in mind that the official unemployment rate (U3 measure) does not capture discouraged workers who have stopped looking for work in the prior four weeks, but have looked for jobs sometime in the past twelve months. The U6 measure counts the total unemployed, including discouraged workers who believe that there are no jobs available for them. U3 only includes people who have actively sought work in the past four weeks.” To review additional statistics regarding the U3 and U6 measure, visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.
*April’s unemployment rate will be released on May 17.