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More jobs lost in East Bay
By George Avalos, Staff Writer
May 16, 2008
The East Bay employment slump shows no signs it will relent any time soon, according to a state report released Friday that sketched a grim picture of hundreds more jobs being lost in the area.
Employers shed 1,500 jobs in the East Bay during April, adjusted for seasonal changes. The setbacks mark the fourth-straight month the Alameda County-Contra Costa County region has lost jobs.
So far in 2008, the East Bay has lost 9,200 jobs, the state's Employment Development Department said.
The job problems in the East Bay demonstrate how the debacle in the housing market has jolted the rest of the region's economy.
Propelled in part by a super-heated housing market, the East Bay economy in recent years rocketed higher and was the strongest in the Bay Area. With the fuel now largely spent, the region has spiraled lower during the last several months.
"Housing is still in free fall, consumer spending is drying up and the government is getting pummelled by loss of revenue," said Christopher Thornberg, an economist with Beacon Economics. "Where is the strength in the East Bay economy? Not much points to a recovery" soon.
The April employment reductions represent the longest monthly losing streak for the East Bay in more than four years. September 2003 marked the 10th-straight month of job losses for the East Bay at the tail end of the last economic slump.
"This is the ripple effect from housing-led declines in consumer spending," Thornberg said.
If statewide trends offer any guidance, the difficulties linked to residential real estate have worsened significantly in recent months.
During the first four months of 2008, California's construction and finance jobs declined an average of 9,700 jobs a month, said Howard Roth, chief economist with the state finance department. That was 20 percent higher than the average per-month job loss of 8,100 construction and finance jobs in 2007.
"There is no sign in the numbers that the housing downturn is slowing in California," Roth said. "The job losses are accelerating."
The wobbly economy has produced tough times for some East Bay job seekers.
"It's very difficult to find a job. It's really bad," said Sheena Lewis, a Livermore resident. "The only jobs you can find are low paying jobs that offer no advancement."
Lewis, who held a wide array of jobs in two mortgage companies in recent years, said she is not being picky in trying to find work.
"I don't have a preference," Lewis said. "I'm looking at anything." Lewis is getting some interviews.
Mitchell Brewer of Hayward is trying to find a warehouse job. Despite a decade of experience working in warehouses, Brewer senses his options have dwindled.
"I'm not getting nearly as many interviews as I did a year or two ago," Brewer said. "The economy is not as good as it was."
Despite a quarter-century in project management for corporations such as technology companies, Pleasanton resident Susan Sanguinetti said she has witnessed some erosion in the employment picture. "The job market is definitely softer than last year," Sanguinetti said. "It didn't take as long to find work. I have a few friends looking for work right now and they told me it's taking longer to get hired.
The East Bay appears to be weaker than the rest of California. During the year that ended in April, the number of East Bay payroll jobs shrank by 0.6 percent. Over the same 12 months, California jobs expanded at a 0.2 percent rate.
"There is not a free fall in the East Bay, it is not an implosion," Thornberg said. "The job losses are bad, but they are not nearly as bad as San Francisco and Silicon Valley during the dot-com period. But the East Bay has to find a way to hang on until the housing market comes back."
George Avalos covers jobs, economic development, commercial real estate, finance and oil companies. Reach him at 925-977-8477 or gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com .
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