Politics and statistics about jobs and the economy can make it difficult to have a clear picture of the opportunities for the average worker. Recent government data, though, appears to represent historical job market performance that is consistent with the reality in East Bay communities. The current job market is especially significant for Hispanics, who achieved a record low unemployment rate last month.

Nationally and in the Bay Area, record low unemployment rates have been reported for several segments of workers and for workers nationally. In their Fact Check series of articles, CNN confirmed the historic job market performance “The jobs report for April shows a very strong economy, with the unemployment rate at a 50-year low.”

Regarding the April Employment Situation report, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta issued the following statements:

“Today’s jobs report announced a 3.6% unemployment rate, the lowest unemployment rate since 1969.

“America’s economy added 263,000 jobs in April and a net 16,000 additional upward adjustment in February and March. This brings the total to 5.4 million jobs added since January 2017.” 

A majority of these added jobs are in higher paying industries like business services, health care and construction. Hourly wages increased by 3.2% compared to a year prior.

April marked a record low unemployment rate for Hispanics. The latest 4.2% Hispanic unemployment rate, announced by the Labor Department, coincided with the overall unemployment low of 3.6% (a number not seen since December 1969)

It must be noted that part of the decrease in the unemployment rate is due to fewer people looking for work. The number of Americans in the labor market decreased slightly, from 63% in March to 62.8% in April.

The US economy currently has more job openings than unemployed people, which will likely raise questions about how the US will expand the labor force through training programs, high-skilled immigration or other initiatives.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates declined in April for adult men (3.4 percent), adult women (3.1 percent), Whites (3.1 percent), Asians (2.2 percent), and Hispanics (4.2 percent).

Professional and business services added 76,000 jobs in April. Within the industry, employment gains occurred in administrative and support services (+53,000) and in computer systems design and related services (+14,000). Over the past 12 months, professional and business services has added 535,000 jobs.

In April, construction employment rose by 33,000, with gains in nonresidential specialty trade contractors (+22,000) and in heavy and civil engineering construction (+10,000). Construction has added 256,000 jobs over the past 12 months.
 
Employment in health care grew by 27,000 in April and 404,000 over the past 12 months. In April, job growth occurred in ambulatory health care services (+17,000), hospitals (+8,000), and community care facilities for the elderly (+7,000).

In the Bay Area, there are many signs of strong employment, even separate from the Silicon Valley reality. In the past 12 months, Vision Hispana Newspaper has received nearly 50 percent more enquiries and advertising placements for local and national employers looking to hire Hispanic workers. Private staffing agencies and businesses in numerous industries continue to increase their outreach to Hispanic workers. Employers contacting Vision Hispana this year include the Oakland School District, See’s Candies, Amazon, the US Navy, Hampton Inn, Jackson Hewitt, and Yunsheng USA Inc.

For the East Bay, the State of California released its most recent job data through its labor market information division. The unemployment rate in the Oakland-Hayward-Berkeley Metropolitan Division was 3.4 percent in March, which compares to the unemployment rate of 4.6 percent for California and 3.9 percent nationally. The unemployment rate was 3.3 percent in Alameda County and 3.5 percent in Contra Costa County. Between February 2019 and March 2019, the total number of jobs in the East Bay counties of Alameda and Contra Costa increased by 7,600 jobs to total 1,192,100.

• Leisure and hospitality reported the largest monthly increase (up 2,100 jobs), primarily from accommodation and food services.  Other major industries with significant increases were government (up 1,600 jobs), professional and business services (up 1,400 jobs), private educational and health services (up 1,200 jobs), and construction (up 900 jobs).    

• Professional and business services had the largest year-over payroll gains of 8,000 jobs.

• Private educational and health services followed with an increase of 5,700 jobs.