Bay Area Job Growth Taking a New Turn

Santa Clara County, the heart of Silicon Valley, posted the fastest job growth rate of any large U.S. county at the height of the tech boom, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

From 1999 to 2000, Santa Clara County added 58,000 jobs--for a sizzling growth rate of 6.2%.

That pace was well ahead of the other U.S. counties cracking the top five in the 2000 County Business Patterns report rankings, including runner-up New York County at 3.9% and Los Angeles County, which ranked fourth with a 3.1% increase in jobs.

But that was in the good old days before the tech meltdown and Nasdaq crash, underscoring how quickly census figures can look dated when the economy takes a turn.

The Bay Area still is setting job records, only in the opposite direction.

Last month, San Jose, the largest city in Santa Clara County, had the distinction of posting the largest year-over-year jump in joblessness--4.7%--of any metro area in the country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In April, San Jose’s unemployment rate was 7.4%, up from 2.7% in April 2001. So much for records.