Department of Numbers

San Diego-Carlsbad, California Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for San Diego fell 0.8 percentage points in November 2020 to 6.8%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 1.4 percentage points lower than the California rate. The unemployment rate in San Diego peaked in May 2020 at 15.3% and is now 8.5 percentage points lower. You can also compare San Diego unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate November 2020 Month/Month Year/Year
National 6.7% -0.2 +3.1
California 8.2% -0.8 +4.3
San Diego 6.8% -0.8 +3.8
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with November 2020 data as December metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: San Diego, California, National

San Diego, California monthly unemployment rate chart

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

San Diego, California Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in San Diego peaked in May 2020 at 238,748. There are now 131,474 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. San Diego employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in San Diego, California) is also available.

Unemployed Persons November 2020 Month/Month Year/Year
San Diego 107,274 -13,637 +59,703

Number of Unemployed Persons

San Diego, California Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 California
Unemployment Rate		 San Diego
Unemployment Rate		 San Diego
Unemployed
December
2020		 6.7% — — —
November
2020		 6.7% 8.2% 6.8% 107,274
October
2020		 6.9% 9.0% 7.6% 120,911
September
2020		 7.8% 11.1% 9.1% 141,552
August
2020		 8.4% 11.2% 9.1% 140,845
July
2020		 10.2% 13.5% 11.9% 186,204
June
2020		 11.1% 14.9% 13.5% 213,346
May
2020		 13.3% 16.4% 15.3% 238,748
April
2020		 14.8% 16.4% 15.2% 237,733
March
2020		 4.4% 5.5% 4.1% 64,284
February
2020		 3.5% 3.9% 3.0% 48,457
January
2020		 3.5% 3.9% 3.0% 48,091

1. Metro area unemployment rates are now seasonally adjusted. The BLS has started publishing smoothed seasonally adjusted metropolitan area data which makes comparisons to state and national data more relevant than the unadjusted numbers. ↩

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