Bay Area Job Growth Slows

Raising fears about the staying power of the Bay Area economy, the region added just 2,500 jobs in May, a sharp slowdown from gains averaging 10,000 a month over the previous four months.

Blaming the deepening recession in Europe and the economic slowdown in Asia, Scott Anderson, a senior economist with Wells Fargo Bank, said: "There is a deceleration in job creation. That would be consistent with some of the weakness we are seeing in the national employment numbers."

In May, the South Bay added 1,500 jobs, while the East Bay's employment market nose-dived and shed 5,000 jobs, according to seasonally adjusted figures released Friday by the state Employment Development Department. The strongest region in the Bay Area was the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin area, which added 4,200 jobs in May, the EDD reported.

Those numbers were down sharply from the first four months of the year, when the Bay Area added jobs at an average rate of 10,000 a month. And the latest numbers were far below 10,500 jobs a month the Bay Area posted over the five months that ended in December.

The big question about whether the slowdown will continue or job growth will restart is the tech sector, which has contributed heavily to job growth in the past year. Despite May's pessimistic report, some experts remain hopeful.

"The structure of the South Bay economy lends itself to the surge in business investment we have been seeing nationwide," said Jordan Levine, director of economic research with Beacon Economics. "Silicon Valley and the San Francisco market are all set up to leverage that business investment trend."

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The East Bay has technology clusters in Fremont, the Pleasanton-Dublin-San Ramon region and Oakland, but lags behind its neighbors for tech jobs.

"The East Bay does not have enough concentration of the tech sector to get the growth you see in other areas," Levine said.

The weakest sectors in the East Bay were construction, which lost 1,100 jobs and government, down 900. But analysts said the downturn might only be temporary.

"I don't think it is the start of a new downward trend," said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific. "But it's more evidence of how the East Bay economy has struggled to achieve consistent growth."

California overall added 39,000 jobs in May, EDD officials reported. The statewide jobless rate improved to 10.8 percent, down from 10.9 percent in April.

The jobless rates in the Bay Area's three largest urban centers were unchanged last month at 9.3 percent in the East Bay, 8.6 percent in the South Bay and 7.2 percent in the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin metro area.

"Job growth has begun to slow a bit," said Jon Haveman, chief economist for the Bay Area Councils' Economic Institute. "But outside of the East Bay, the growth remains pretty solid in the South Bay and the San Francisco area."

With tech lagging, the strongest industries in the South Bay in May were construction, which added 1,000 jobs, and health care, which gained 800, according to a Beacon analysis of the EDD report.

In the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin region, the strongest sectors were professional, scientific and technical services, which added 1,000 jobs -- a reflection of ongoing strength in the tech field. Some experts worry that Facebook's long-anticipated but disappointing initial public offering could put a damper on the startup economy, but economists said any impact from the IPO hasn't shown up in the job trends to this point.

Bay Area Adds More than 15,000 Jobs as Employment Surges

The Bay Area economy created 15,400 jobs in February, raising total employment in the region to the highest level in three years, the state's Employment Development Department reported Friday.

But despite positive job growth in the Bay Area, the net gain statewide was a mere 4,000 jobs.

"California's economy is being led by the Bay Area," said Scott Anderson, senior economist with Wells Fargo Securities. "The Bay Area is certainly the bright spot in the state."

The Bay Area has added jobs for seven consecutive months, and all three major urban centers in the nine-county region are now making significant employment gains. The South Bay added 4,100 jobs last month, while the East Bay gained 3,200 and the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin region added 7,100, seasonally adjusted figures showed.

"The Bay Area is producing what the world wants," said Jon Haveman, chief economist with the Bay Area Council's Economic Institute. "High-end computer manufacturing, information services, professional and business services are all doing well and creating jobs."

To be sure, the Bay Area has a long way to go to recapture the jobs lost during the recession. Still, the current job trends show the region also has come a long way since the depths of the downturn.

Employment totals in the Bay Area are now at their highest levels since February 2009. The East Bay and South Bay are at similar multiyear highs.

The statewide jobless rate was 10.9 percent last month, unchanged from January. The United States had an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent in February, which also was the same as in January.

In February, the South Bay posted a jobless rate of 8.7 percent, down from 8.9 percent the previous month; the East Bay's was unchanged at 9.3 percent, while the San Francisco area's was at 7.4 percent, worse than the previous month's 7.3 percent rate, a Beacon Economics estimate culled from the EDD figures shows.

The overall Bay Area jobless rate was 8.6 percent in February, an improvement from the 8.7 percent rate in January, according to this newspaper's analysis of the Beacon figures.

Through much of the recovery from the recession, the South Bay and San Francisco regions led in job growth, bolstered by the fast-expanding tech sector. The East Bay, ground zero for the meltdown of the housing market, has lagged.

Now, however, the East Bay has joined the upswing, which bodes well for overall economic prospects in the Bay Area. The 3,200 jobs East Bay employers added in February follow a gain of 9,400 jobs in January.

Despite the improvements, the hunt for employment remains a struggle for some job seekers.

Even the information technology sector isn't uniformly hot for job seekers. Gabriel Garcia, a San Jose resident, is finding that IT employers prefer to hire people for temporary contract jobs rather than full-time positions.

"It seems that things are picking up," Garcia said. "But it's been harder than I expected."

Despite the tough times, Newark resident Sarah Babbitt, a mother of two, is not discouraged as she seeks a job in retail or restaurant management.

"I've been looking for work for about two months," Babbitt said. "But I'm confident in my skills. I'll be able to find something."

The region is poised to produce more employment opportunities for job seekers, analysts predicted.

"The Bay Area has long-term fundamentals that are better than pretty much anywhere else in the world," Haveman said. "That is the result of the frontier economy that we have in this region."

Bay Area Adds Nearly 14,000 Jobs in January

The Bay Area economy zoomed out of the starting blocks in January by adding nearly 14,000 jobs, according to a new state government report issued Friday.

Meanwhile, employers nationwide added 227,000 payroll jobs in February, although the U.S. jobless rate remained unchanged at 8.3 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Last month's upswing follows a gain of 284,000 jobs in January. The two months of steady hiring nationwide are a strong indication that robust job growth in the Bay Area will continue.

"The economy is gaining momentum," said Brad Kemp, director of regional research with Beacon Economics. "I do think things are turning the corner."

In contrast to the Bay Area and national trends, California struggled in January, a report released Friday by the Employment Development Department showed.

Statewide, employers cut 5,200 jobs, although the jobless rate improved to 10.9 percent in January, down from 11.2 percent in December and the lowest rate since April 2009.

"The Bay Area is leading the state, it has been running ahead of the state, and the gap has even widened," said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific.

Perhaps the most encouraging development in the Bay Area employment picture was the gain of 9,300 jobs in the East Bay, which accounted for two-thirds of the 13,800 jobs added in the Bay Area in January.

"What is striking about the numbers is the job growth in the East Bay," said Michael Bernick, a San Francisco-based research fellow with the Milken Institute, and a former EDD director. "The South Bay has had dramatic job growth, the San Francisco metro area has had high job growth, but the East Bay has been lagging."

The East Bay upswing means all three of the Bay Area's major metro areas are poised to expand in tandem.

"The good news is no longer limited to the South Bay, which is growing strongly," Michael said. "The San Francisco area is showing solid growth. It's been a tough four or five years for the East Bay, but this month was a big positive."

The East Bay's jobs uptick follows a string of economic calamities over the past two years, including the shutdown of an auto plant and solar factor, and the continuing consequences of the housing meltdown.

"This January number is encouraging for the East Bay, although you have to see how it plays out," Michael said. "But it's time for the East Bay to come around."

The East Bay's job gains were led by a surge in an array of industries, according to a Beacon Economics analysis. Administrative support and temporary employment gained 2,200 jobs, retail added 2,100, construction was up 1,500, health care gained 1,400 and the tech-heavy professional scientific and technical services sector added 1,200 jobs.

In the South Bay, administrative support and temporary employment was up by 1,000 jobs, while professional, scientific and technical services gained 900.

Unemployment rates in the Bay Area have improved steadily. The South Bay jobless rate of 9.1 percent in January was down from 10.8 percent a year earlier. The East Bay jobless rate was 9.6 percent, compared with 11.1 percent a year ago, and the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin region's rate was 7.5 percent, compared with 8.9 percent in January 2011.

The state's annual revision of previous estimates for job trends provided additional sparkle for the region's economic picture.

The Bay Area had 6,800 more jobs during 2011 than analysts thought initially, according to the EDD revision.

The South Bay had 1,600 additional jobs and the San Francisco metro area had 4,200 more jobs compared with the original data. The East Bay job market was a bit weaker than thought, with 800 fewer jobs.

"The strength in high-tech areas supports the finding that the state economy is continuing to recover with the largest gains in technology and foreign trade and in the urban coastal regions," said Steve Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.

With the gains in January, the Bay Area has now added jobs for six straight months.

"This is a trend and not a bend," Kemp said. "The Bay Area is doing better than most regions."

South Bay Leads Bay Area Job Market

Employers added jobs at a brisk pace in the South Bay in November and at a moderate rate in the East Bay, fresh evidence that the Bay Area employment market is on the mend, analysts said Friday.

"The economy has clearly turned the corner, and the South Bay is on the leading edge of that recovery," said Jordan Levine, director of economic research with Beacon Economics. "Now the improvement is picking up steam and spreading to other areas."

By far the strongest job growth in the Bay Area was posted by the South Bay, which powered to a gain of 2,800 jobs for the month, the state's Employment Development Department said. The East Bay added 400 jobs.

The Bay Area will Outpace California in Job Growth Next Year

With the November job gains, the South Bay has added jobs for 15 consecutive months. This surge represents the longest such stretch of employment expansion for that region since a 16-month string that ended in September 2006, before the recession.

The weakest regions in the Bay Area in November were the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin area, which lost 2,300 jobs; and Sonoma County, which shed 2,100 jobs.

The steep job losses in the San Francisco-San Mateo area may be primarily due to a surge in the dollar triggered by the solvency crisis in Europe, Levine said. Investors have snapped up dollars lately in a flight to safety, causing the dollar to appreciate against other currencies such as the euro and the yen and other Asian currencies. That put a damper on international tourism. San Francisco-area hotel and restaurant employers shed 1,400 jobs in November.

The San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin region also shed 1,300 construction jobs, which could be due to contractors deciding to delay building permits for new projects.

The sharp declines in those areas countered the gains in the South Bay and East Bay, leaving the Bay Area with an overall loss of 700 jobs for November.

Still, the Bay Area this year has added four times the number of jobs it added last year. Over the first 11 months of 2011, the Bay Area added 47,500 jobs, compared with 10,700 new jobs over the same period last year.

"The East Bay and the San Francisco region are in an up-and-down pattern," said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific. "The South Bay is the only area that is posting consistent job growth month after month."

The South Bay improvement meshes with a forecast commissioned by NOVA, a Sunnyvale-based economic development agency. The forecast said tech companies in the Bay Area are planning to increase employment in the coming year.

"This is not just an anecdote; it is not an exception," said Kris Stadelman, NOVA's executive director. "This is a trend. We are seeing a lot of people who are in our inventory of job seekers who are going back to work."

California overall posted November numbers that pointed to an improving labor market. Employers added 6,600 jobs statewide, according to the Employment Development Department's survey of employers.

The state's jobless rate improved to 11.3 percent, down from 11.7 percent in October, the department said. The jobless rate is culled from a separate survey of households.

Unemployment rates in the Bay Area also improved, according to an analysis of the department's figures.

The East Bay posted a November jobless rate of 9.9 percent, down from 10.1 percent the previous month. That was the first time since April 2009 that East Bay unemployment was below 10 percent.

"The East Bay is lagging behind other areas in turning the corner," Levine said. "But that region has found the bottom. Once the East Bay gets going, we expect it will be one of the strongest growth regions of California."

The South Bay had a 9.6 percent unemployment rate, down from 9.8 percent in October, while the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin region had a jobless rate of 7.9 percent, down from 8.1 percent.

The upswing in the regional job market is being driven by the private sector.

In the South Bay, private companies added 3,200 jobs, while government agencies shed 400 positions. In the East Bay, private-sector employers added 900 jobs and government organizations jettisoned 500.

For the entire Bay Area in November, private employers added 800 jobs, while the government sector lost 1,500.

"November's good news is tempered by the realization that there are still 1 million jobs to recover in California from before the recession," said Stephen Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. "The process of recovery is under way but still much slower than hoped for or needed."

Jobs, Legislative Plans Topics as Gov. Rick Scott Makes two Bay Area Stops

At two stops Monday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott was asked about the things that have come to dominate his public schedule: his plan for the 2012 legislative session, his belief that the state doesn't need more anthropology majors and his inconsistent math when it comes to creating 700,000 private-sector jobs in the state.

During a morning visit at Advanced Protection Technologies, a Clearwater manufacturer that produces industrial surge protectors, Scott reiterated a legislative agenda for next year that includes business tax cuts despite a projected budget shortfall.

Scott toured the manufacturing plant for about 30 minutes before meeting with a handful of workers, asking them for ideas on how to create jobs.

The East Bay Posted a Gain of 8,100 Jobs During June

One worker asked about the prospect of Cuba drilling for oil near Florida's coast, and whether Florida should drill itself. "Right now, we ought to be careful," Scott answered.

Later, Scott rolled through more of his legislative agenda during a 25-minute talk to the Westshore Alliance, a Tampa business group.

Scott told the group he wants to emphasize science, technology, engineering and math degrees, or "degrees in things where you can get jobs." Scott faced criticism last week when he told a radio talk show host that Florida doesn't need "a lot more anthropologists in this state."

One of Scott's daughters, Jordan Kandah, has an anthropology degree from the College of William and Mary.

"I love anthropology degrees, just so you know," Scott told the crowd of about 400, which included Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

Scott then recounted a phone conversation with his daughter after the story broke.

" 'Dad, do you know I'm the No. 1 story on Yahoo! today?' " Scott said, mimicking his daughter to laughter.

Later in a session with reporters, Scott was again asked to explain how he planned to keep his central campaign promise of creating 700,000 private-sector jobs over seven years. During his campaign, Scott said those jobs would be in addition to "what's projected" as normal growth. State economists projected Florida would gain 1 million jobs in the same period, regardless of who was elected governor.

Scott deflected the predictions of state economists Monday, as well as his previous statements.

"Whether the economy goes up or goes down, my focus is what I've committed to, 700,000 jobs over the next seven years," Scott said.

The Largest High-Tech Heist in Bay Area History

The largest high-tech heist in Bay Area history -- with computer chips worth $37 million stolen by 15 people in a takeover armed robbery -- was an inside job, authorities said.

Pierre Ramos, 28, and Leonardo Abriam, 31 -- two of nine Bay Area men arrested in connection with the Feb. 27 robbery at Unigen Corp. -- were employed at the Fremont tech company at the time of the crime, said Simon Ip, a Unigen spokesman.

A day after the heist, the two men were back at the office park on Warm Springs Boulevard, working at the company they had just robbed, the spokesman said.

Ip would not disclose what positions Ramos and Abriam held at Unigen, saying only that they joined the company "not long before the robbery took place."

He added: "Officially, they were employees until they were arrested."

The other seven defendants are Dylan Catayas Lee, 32; Rolando McKay Secreto, 39; Faustino Adona, 39; Roy Jiminez, 34; Alexander Robb Santos, 29; Jimmy Trieu, 28; and Jesus Meraz, 25.

The investigation is being spearheaded by REACT -- the multicounty technology crimes task force led by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. The multiagency organization arrested Ramos, Abriam, Lee, Secreto and Meraz in a 10-day period between March 29 and April 7, authorities said.

The other four suspects -- Adona, Jiminez, Santos and Trieu -- were arrested in subsequent weeks.

All are San Jose residents, except for Ramos, who lives in Union City.

An additional six people in the robbery ring still are at large, said Ralph Sivilla, a prosecutor with the California Attorney General's Office in Alameda County.

On Wednesday, several of the defendants are scheduled to appear in a Fremont courtroom where each will face numerous felony counts, he said.

Each man is accused of five counts of robbery, five counts of false imprisonment, one count of grand theft and one count of second-degree commercial burglary, authorities said.

The charges also come with special allegations, accusing the men of committing a crime while being armed with handguns and of stealing property worth more than $3.2 million, according to court documents.

If convicted of the charges, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, Sivilla said.

The case started on a quiet winter Sunday morning five months ago.

About 8:40 a.m., the 15 robbers -- armed with rifles and handguns, and wearing masks and matching black clothing -- entered Unigen's gated 95,000-square-foot complex, at 45388 Warm Springs Blvd., by cutting through or going over a fence near the rear loading dock.

Within minutes, they had tied up and blindfolded five employees while others loaded the computer components onto a bobtail truck, authorities said.

"They stole NAND chips, which are high-powered memory chips," Ip said.

The company surveillance tape showed the suspects driving away into a large truck at 9:11 a.m., police said.

The heist, which authorities called "disciplined and sophisticated" was unusually well-organized.

"In the cases done in the past several years, I've not seen one like this come across my desk," Sivilla said. "It's a highly violent case and involves an excessive amount of loss."

Since then, Unigen has increased its security measures, adding more surveillance cameras and security guards to patrol its parking lot at all hours, Ip said.

The Unigen official on Friday praised the special law enforcement team for the arrests.

"We really appreciate all the work of the REACT task force," Ip said. "We're very grateful for how quickly they moved to solve the case."

The East Bay Posted a Gain of 8,100 Jobs During June

The East Bay posted a gain of 8,100 jobs during June, an indication that the region's battered economy is turning the corner after the worst down turn in decades.

The increase marked the best performance of any of the Bay Area's metro centers in June. The region added 19,500 jobs last month, with 7,800 in the South Bay and 4,800 in the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin area, the state's Employment Development Department reported Friday. These numbers were not adjusted for seasonal changes; however, the positive trend was confirmed by a seasonally adjusted EDD estimate.

The nine-county region accounted for more than half of the nearly 29,000 payroll jobs that California added during June, department figures show.

"The Bay Area is leading the way in job growth," said Brad Kemp, director of regional research with Beacon Economics. "And the Bay Area is going to continue that leadership."

The jobs added in the Bay Area during June marked the largest increase since April 2010, according to an analysis of seasonal job trends compiled by the department.

The East Bay economy has been sluggish so far this year, so the robust improvement in the Alameda County-Contra Costa County region during June encouraged Jeffrey Michael, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific.

"I'm still cautious about the East Bay," Michael said. "But I think the worst is probably over."

During 2011, the jobs trend has been consistently stronger in the South Bay than in the rest of the Bay Area.

The tech improvement in the South Bay has unleashed a ripple effect.

"There is a spillover from Silicon Valley that is going into the East Bay," Michael said.

California added 28,800 payroll jobs during June. In contrast, the entire nation added 18,000 jobs in aggregate during June.

The state jobless rate worsened and rose to 11.8 percent in June. That was up from 11.7 percent in May. The unemployment rate is derived from a separate survey of households and doesn't always move in tandem with the payroll jobs data.

An array of industries were the primary leaders in the job gains for the Bay Area's three primary urban centers, the EDD reported:
In the East Bay, professional, scientific and technical services -- a proxy for information technology and research and development work -- gained 2,500 jobs. Leisure and hospitality, construction and health care were also particularly strong.
In the South Bay, construction gained 1,800 jobs and manufacturing was also particularly strong, led by computer and electronics production.
In the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin region, professional and business services, led by computer systems design work, added 3,900 jobs. Leisure and hospitality was also a strong industry during June.

Although high-tech has become a job generator during 2011, other industries still struggle.

Despite a gain of 7,800 construction jobs in California over the most recent 12 months, that sector isn't out of the woods, warned Steve Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. Levy said construction jobs remain at recession levels.

"The housing market remains mired in foreclosures and fear," Levy said.

And while the state reported robust job gains, notable losses loom, even in the tech sector, warned Michael Bernick, a San Francisco-based research fellow with the Milken Institute.

"The job losses announced this week from two major California employers, Cisco (CSCO) and Borders, are not factored into these figures," Bernick said.

San Jose-based Cisco disclosed plans to slash 6,500 jobs worldwide and Borders said it would close all its stores, which would erase 600 jobs in California.

Some job seekers are struggling to land work, even amid the improvements in June. Jordan Johnson, of Livermore, said he recently lost his job at a Goodwill outlet, but he had been seeking work even before that.

"The job market is tough right now," Johnson said. "You look for a job and nobody responds to you. It's very discouraging."

Word of massive job cuts and the ongoing challenges for job seekers serve as twin reminders that the regional economy won't soon reclaim the sturdy job levels of a few years ago.

"We can look forward to four or five years of frustratingly slow growth," Michael said.

Successful Land deal with IT Firm will Create 100 jobs to Pensacola

The City of Pensacola may be nearing a deal with an information technology firm proposing to bring 100 jobs and a $4 million investment to downtown.

Since October 2009, the city's Community Redevelopment Agency, in cooperation with the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, has been negotiating with a company the city will anonymously label only as "Project Press."

The tech company currently has a Pensacola facility and is looking to expand downtown, according to a September 2009 memo to the city from Charles Wood, the chamber's former senior vice president of economic development.

The City Council — acting as the CRA — at that time authorized CRA staff to begin negotiating "an economic development property incentive agreement" with Project Press for a 0.66-acre CRA-owned property at 120 W. Government St., downtown.

The CRA-owned parcel, currently a metered parking lot, is in the center of the block of Government between Spring and Baylen streets, west of Gulf Winds Federal Credit Union.

Shortly after the CRA's approval to start negotiations, city officials said they were close to getting a similar deal with the company, but nothing became of it.

"I said, whatever was on the table, let's get it back on the table and get some business in Pensacola," Mayor Ashton Hayward said. "My role is to create jobs, and be proactive for taxpayers, and when the city has property where we can be a conduit to do business, we should."

Today, the city is running a legal advertisement in the News Journal as a notice of intent to dispose of the property and is now accepting other proposals for the parcel.

The legal ad states that alternative proposals must include "no less than 30,000 square feet of business or office space, $4 million in capital investment, 100 new full-time employees, and completion of construction within 24 months."

These thresholds are based on the levels of jobs and construction the technology firm has proposed for the CRA site.

The city's legal notice will stand until July 14. After that, the CRA and City Council will be asked to consider any proposals, and if no company has pitched something larger, then Project Press is likely set to get the land.

"I know we are very close to a deal, but there are some things you have to go through before you can close on it," Hayward said.

City officials say they cannot name the company, or get into proprietary information about the company, for legal confidentiality reasons because of state laws that govern how to dispose of CRA property.

"That information we cannot release because it could endanger the project," said CRA Administrator Becky Bray. "We have been working with this company in good faith."The company's customers include private businesses, defense contractors and the federal government, Wood's 2009 memo says.