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Employment Report Definition: Each month, California’s Employment Devel- opment Division (EDD) publishes an update on employment in California and in MSAs and counties all across the state. The report fo- cuses primarily on non-farm employment, pro- viding estimates of changes in employment by industry as well as unemployment in each re- gion. Why is it important? Employment growth is a fundamental indicator of the health of an economy. How are we doing? Since 2010, the employment in Redwood City has been growing at about the same rate as San Mateo County as a whole, but slightly faster in 2016. The nation has been growing at 2% per year, the state at 3% per year, and the Bay Area at over 4% per year. Redwood City has been growing at approximately 2.5% per year, faster than most parts of the Bay Area and state. In recent months, employment growth in the Bay Area has been slowing and has fallen to a 3% per year pace. The same is true of em- ployment growth in Redwood City. According to the EDD, the City has lost between 200-300 jobs over the course of the last two months. Employment is still higher, year over year, but there is a definite softening occurring. Unemployment, though it ticked up by 0.1% in December, 2016, is at a very low level. At 2.7%, the Redwood City economy is clearly at full em- ployment. It is unlikely that the unemployment rate will continue to decline. Table 5. Summary for December, 2016 Change From: Current Last 2 Months Last Category Value Month Ago Year Employment 48,032 -287 -239 703 Labor Force 49,373 -182 -261 499 Number Unemployed 1,297 -2 -69 -199 Unemployment Rate 2.7 0.1 0.0 -0.3 Source: EDD, Marin Economic Consulting Figure 40:Historical Employment and Unem- ployment in Redwood City Figure 41:Redwood City’s Relative Employment Growth 23