Walnut Creek, Other East Bay Cities See Unemployment Decline Slightly

Walnut Creek’s unemployment rate was 7.4 percent in December, a slight drop from 7.6 percent in November.

By Martha Ross | Email the author | January 21, 2011

Add a comment (0 comments )

Email | Start Following | Print | Share on Facebook |

Section Sponsored By

While California’s unemployment rate jumped to 12.5 percent, the East Bay and the rest of the Bay Area saw gains in employment, indicating that the Bay Area job market may be on the rebound, according to a state report released Friday.

Walnut Creek and other East Bay suburbs enjoyed slight drops in their unemployment figures in December compared with the month before, according to the state Employment Development Department, from 11.3 percent to 10.9 percent. The East and South bays led the nine-county Bay Area in job gains, with the East Bay adding 500 jobs and the South Bay 800. 

That 10.9 unemployment rate percent is still more than double what it was before the  economic downturn hit in 2008. In December 2007, the rate for the Oakland metropolitan area, which includes Alameda and Contra Costa counties, was 4.8 percent. 

City	November	December
Concord	12.1	11.8
Pleasant Hill	9.1	8.9
Martinez	9	8.8
Walnut Creek	7.6	7.4
Livermore	7.4	7.1
Dublin	6.9	6.6
Moraga	6.7	6.6
Danville	5.9	5.8
Pleasanton	5.7	5.5
Orinda	4.9	4.2
San Ramon	4.7	4.6
Alamo	4.2	4.1
Lafayette	4.1	4.0
Clayton	2.8	2.7

Good news! Unemployment has been the one major issue that has to be fixed and fast.