Department of Numbers

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for San Jose fell 0.6 percentage points in November 2020 to 5.2%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 3.0 percentage points lower than the California rate. The unemployment rate in San Jose peaked in April 2020 at 12.0% and is now 6.8 percentage points lower. You can also compare San Jose 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 Jose 5.2% -0.6 +2.7
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 Jose, California, National

San Jose, California monthly unemployment rate chart

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

San Jose, California Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in San Jose peaked in April 2020 at 127,612. There are now 71,426 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. San Jose employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in San Jose, California) is also available.

Unemployed Persons November 2020 Month/Month Year/Year
San Jose 56,186 -7,226 +29,444

Number of Unemployed Persons

San Jose, California Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 California
Unemployment Rate		 San Jose
Unemployment Rate		 San Jose
Unemployed
December
2020		 6.7% — — —
November
2020		 6.7% 8.2% 5.2% 56,186
October
2020		 6.9% 9.0% 5.8% 63,412
September
2020		 7.8% 11.1% 7.1% 74,312
August
2020		 8.4% 11.2% 7.0% 73,174
July
2020		 10.2% 13.5% 9.3% 97,681
June
2020		 11.1% 14.9% 10.5% 112,919
May
2020		 13.3% 16.4% 11.5% 121,287
April
2020		 14.8% 16.4% 12.0% 127,612
March
2020		 4.4% 5.5% 3.3% 35,844
February
2020		 3.5% 3.9% 2.5% 27,201
January
2020		 3.5% 3.9% 2.5% 26,988

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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