Politics & Government
Menlo Park's Unemployment Rate Drops
San Mateo County has the second-lowest jobless rate in the state. Get a view of the big picture in this post.
San Mateo County's unemployment rate fell again in March, dropping to its lowest mark in at least the past two years, according to data released Friday by the state Employment Development Department.
The county's unemployment rate was at 5.7 percent last month, down from 5.9 percent in February.
In San Mateo County, all cities also reported an improvement in the jobless rate from February to March.
Find out what's happening in Menlo Park-Athertonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Hillsborough had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.4 percent. The highest rate was in East Palo Alto, at 13.7 percent.
Between February and March, the combined employment in the counties of San Mateo, Marin and San Francisco grew by 4,600 jobs to reach 1,014,300 jobs, according to the EDD, which groups those three counties to form a metropolitan division called "West Bay" in its data.
Find out what's happening in Menlo Park-Athertonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The growth includes:
- a seasonal gain of 800 government jobs
- 700 new construction jobs
- increases in food service and bar jobs
However, 800 jobs were lost regionally in retail trade, which is typical, according to the EDD.
Here is the city-by-city breakdown for San Mateo County.
San Mateo County Unemployment Data Area Unemployment Rate-March Unemployment Rate-February # of People Employed in March# of People Unemployed in February
3.1% 3.3% 3,100 100 Belmont 4.8% 5.0% 14,600 700 Brisbane 10.0% 10.4% 2,200 200 Burlingame
4.1% 4.2% 16,000 700 Daly City
7.1% 7.3% 52,900 4,000 East Palo Alto
13.7% 14.1% 11,800 1,900 Foster City
4.2% 4.3% 16,700 700 Half Moon Bay
5.8% 6.0% 6,200 400 Hillsborough 2.4% 2.5% 4,800 100 Menlo Park 4.6% 4.7% 16,000 800 Millbrae 2.9% 3.0% 10,100 300 Pacifica 6.5% 6.8% 22,200 1,100 Redwood City 5.7% 5.8% 41,600 2,500 San Bruno 4.9% 5.1% 22,200 1,100 San Carlos 3.8% 5.1% 15,700 600 San Mateo 4.5% 4.6% 50,100 2,400 South San Francisco 7.0% 7.2% 31,000 2,300
San Mateo County's unemployment rate also was better than those for California or the nation, which were 9.4 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively.
The unemployment rate is derived from a federal survey of 5,500 California households.
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