San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for San Jose rose 0.7 percentage points in March 2020 to 3.2%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 2.3 percentage points lower than the California rate. The unemployment rate in San Jose peaked in November 2009 at 11.4% and is now 8.2 percentage points lower. From a post peak low of 2.4% in December 2019, the unemployment rate has now grown by 0.8 percentage points. You can also compare San Jose unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate	March 2020	Month/Month	Year/Year
National	4.4%	+0.9	+0.6
California	5.5%	+1.6	+1.3
San Jose	3.2%	+0.7	+0.5

Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.¹ All comparisons are made with March 2020 data as April 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 February 2010 at 103,486. There are now 68,507 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. From a recent trough of 26,703 in December 2019, the number of unemployed has now grown by 8,276. San Jose employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in San Jose, California) is also available.

Unemployed Persons	March 2020	Month/Month	Year/Year
San Jose	34,979	+7,778	+6,057

Number of Unemployed Persons

San Jose, California Unemployment History

Date	National Unemployment Rate	California Unemployment Rate	San Jose Unemployment Rate	San Jose Unemployed
April 2020	14.7%	15.5%	—	—
March 2020	4.4%	5.5%	3.2%	34,979
February 2020	3.5%	3.9%	2.5%	27,201
January 2020	3.6%	3.9%	2.5%	26,988
December 2019	3.5%	3.9%	2.4%	26,703
November 2019	3.5%	3.9%	2.5%	26,742
October 2019	3.6%	3.9%	2.5%	26,821
September 2019	3.5%	3.9%	2.5%	26,934
August 2019	3.7%	3.9%	2.5%	27,078
July 2019	3.7%	4.0%	2.5%	27,268
June 2019	3.7%	4.0%	2.5%	27,525
May 2019	3.6%	4.1%	2.6%	27,921