THE EAST BAY IN MAY 2007

• The East Bay continued to see year-over-year job growth with an increase of 20,600 in its labor force.
• The East Bay’s manufacturing sector gained 900 payroll jobs when compared with May 2006.
• East Bay payroll employment highest for the month of May since 2001.
• The number of East Bay homes sold continued to decline, while median home sale prices were virtually unchanged in a year-over-year comparison.
• East Bay residential permit values decreased in a year-over-year comparison, while industrial permit values saw a moderate increase.

BAY AREA WORKFORCE, UNEMPLOYMENT AND EMPLOYED RESIDENTS

As reported by the California Employment Department, The unemployment rate in the Oakland-Fremont-Hayward MD remained stable at 4.4 percent in April and May 2007, but above the year-ago estimate of 4.1 percent. This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 4.9 percent for California and 4.3 percent for the nation during the same period. The unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in Alameda County and 4.3 percent in Contra Costa County.

Unemployment rates in the Bay Area’s other metropolitan areas were also unchanged between April and May 2007, with unemployment remaining stable at 3.8 percent in the San Francisco MD, and 4.4 percent in the San Jose MSA. 

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EAST BAY PAYROLL EMPLOYMENT BY SECTOR

Between April 2007 and May 2007, the total number of jobs in the East Bay counties of Alameda and Contra Costa increased by 5,300 jobs to reach 1,061,100.

• -Government bolstered payrolls by 1,400 jobs.
• -Leisure and hospitality expanded seasonally by 1,100 jobs, slightly lower than the 1,400-job average for April-to-May over the prior 17 years. Food services and drinking places, accounted for most of the increase (up 700 jobs).
• -Construction posted a net gain of 1,000 jobs.
• -Educational and health services gained 600 jobs. Trade, transportation and utilities also increased (up 500 jobs).

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HOUSING

Bay Area homes continued to sell at their slowest pace in 12 years last month, as the median sales price edged up to a new peak, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

A total of 8,080 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county Bay Area in May. That was up 8.5 percent from 7,447 in April, and down 18.7 percent from 9,935 for May a year ago.

Sales have decreased on a year-over-year basis the last 28 months. Last month's sales count was the lowest for any May since 6,615 homes were sold in 1995. The strongest May in DataQuick's statistics, which go back to 1988, was in 2004 when 13,567 homes were sold.  The average number of homes sold in May is 10,186, according to DataQuick.

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CONSTRUCTION PERMITS

In May 2007, the dollar value of residential permits issued in the East Bay increased roughly $33 million over April 2007.  During the same period, the San Francisco and San Jose regions saw decreases of $53 and $54 million, respectively and the Napa region a very small decrease of $171,000.  The Vallejo-Fairfield MSA saw an increase of $12 million during this period.  East Bay non-residential permit values also increased between April and May of 2007, and were $33 million higher in May.  During the same period, the San Francisco and Vallejo-Fairfield MSAs saw decreases of $26 million and $481,000, respectively between April and May 2007, while the San Jose and Napa MSAs saw increases of $26 and $12 million, respectively.

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