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Silicon Valley is seeing a nice, small rebound in job growth. According to a new state report, the Valley gained 3,300 jobs in June which is the sixth straight month of job growth. Professional and business services added 500 jobs in the northern California region dominated by technology and technology manufacturing companies.
There is still an unfortunate seesaw effect in unemployment in a number of counties in this region, reported the San Jose Mercury News. The state claims the ending of Census jobs had an affect on the June unemployment numbers, and so did layoffs at companies like Hewlett-Packard.
“Manufacturing grew in June from the previous month, adding 1,200 jobs, although there were still fewer of those jobs than there were a year ago. Much of that increase was in computer and electronics manufacturing, which grew by 600 jobs.That sector is vital to the valley’s future growth. Computer and electronics manufacturing accounts for 12.6 percent of the region’s jobs — 15 times higher than the national concentration and even much higher than other tech centers such as Austin and Boston, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.“
Economic experts in the state believe the consistent pace of job growth is a good sign of recovery, according to the Mercury News article. The question is whether the region will sustain the growth over a longer period. California is suffering some of the highest rates of unemployment at 12.3 percent, but is shedding jobs at a much smaller rate than a year ago.
As the Merc News points out, there are good things happening here to note:
“The second quarter of this year has given the valley a lot of reasons to be upbeat: the successful Tesla public offering; record sales of the iPhone 4; the launch of the extremely popular iPad; and strong earnings reports from key companies. Intel, for instance, just reported its best quarter ever. There was an influx of venture capital that will help jump-start the cleantech sector, an anticipated source of manufacturing and tech job growth.“