San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for San Jose rose 0.1 percentage points in October 2018 to 2.6%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 1.5 percentage points lower than the California rate. The unemployment rate in San Jose peaked in December 2009 at 11.4% and is now 8.8 percentage points lower. From a post peak low of 2.5% in July 2018, the unemployment rate has now grown by 0.1 percentage points. You can also compare San Jose unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate	October 2018	Month/Month	Year/Year
National	3.7%	0.0	-0.4
California	4.1%	0.0	-0.4
San Jose	2.6%	+0.1	-0.4

Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.¹ All comparisons are made with October 2018 data as November metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: San Jose, California, National

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

San Jose, California Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in San Jose peaked in March 2010 at 104,072. There are now 75,829 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. From a recent trough of 26,703 in August 2018, the number of unemployed has now grown by 1,540. San Jose employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in San Jose, California) is also available.

Unemployed Persons	October 2018	Month/Month	Year/Year
San Jose	28,243	+830	-4,076

Number of Unemployed Persons

San Jose, California Unemployment History

Date	National Unemployment Rate	California Unemployment Rate	San Jose Unemployment Rate	San Jose Unemployed
November 2018	3.7%	—	—	—
October 2018	3.7%	4.1%	2.6%	28,243
September 2018	3.7%	4.1%	2.5%	27,413
August 2018	3.9%	4.2%	2.5%	26,703
July 2018	3.9%	4.2%	2.5%	27,705
June 2018	4.0%	4.2%	2.8%	30,135
May 2018	3.8%	4.2%	2.6%	28,320
April 2018	3.9%	4.2%	2.6%	28,215
March 2018	4.1%	4.3%	2.6%	28,293
February 2018	4.1%	4.3%	2.8%	30,344
January 2018	4.1%	4.4%	2.9%	30,992
December 2017	4.1%	4.5%	3.0%	32,006