It is still not too late to move to bay area!!

Job market is still booming and expected to continue to boom.. not sure about rest of the california, however, SF/SJ and surrounding bay area counties are booming and if you have good skills in technology, it is still good time to move in.. Agreed, that housing has gone to the roof again, but that is expected to stabilize or get some minor correction when mortgage rates come off from their historical lows.

Come on friends.. it is great time to be back in valley!! and build or help build new FBs..

AUGUST HIRING

Growth in jobs gaining steam

South Bay labor market has best month in 13 years, while Bay Area overall gains 12,700


By George Avalos

gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com 

The Bay Area job market boomed in August, adding 12,700 jobs for its best one-month performance since October 2012, state labor officials reported Friday.

Santa Clara County did even better, adding 8,500 jobs, the best one-month performance for the county in more than 13 years. Those gains accounted for two-thirds of the jobs added in the Bay Area and more than one-fourth of the jobs gained in California last month, this newspaper’s analysis of data from the Employment Development Departmentshows. “The South Bay knocked one out of the park in August,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist with San Francisco-based Bank of the West.

The strong gains in August were a sharp contrast to July, when the Bay Area lost 4,400 jobs, sparking fears among some analysts that the region’s economy had begun to sputter, and the rebound might falter. 

The most recent results show that the tech sector, primarily in Silicon Valley, continues to serve as the foundation of a rebound that is gaining strength in a range of other industries across the Bay Area. 

“The tech sector is definitely doing well,” added Jordan Levine, director of economic research with Beacon Economics. “Companies are still investing in software, equipment, and intellectual property.” 

The East Bay, consisting of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, added 2,300 jobs in August, the EDD figures showed. The San Francisco- San Mateo-Marin region added 1,900. 

California added 29,100 jobs during August, labor officials reported Friday, in a second straight month of robust employment gains statewide. The statewide and Bay Area numbers were all adjusted for seasonal factors. 

The statewide jobless rate worsened to 8.9 percent, the EDD reported, from 8.7 percent in July. That can occur because the jobs data and the jobless rate are compiled in separate surveys. 

Improving rates 

In contrast, unemployment rates improved throughout the Bay Area in August, according to a Beacon Economics analysis of the EDD figures. The Alameda County-Contra Costa County jobless rate was 7.1 percent, versus 7.4 percent the month before. The Santa Clara County-San Benito County jobless rate was 6.6 percent, compared with 6.9 percent. The San Francisco-San Mateo- Marin August jobless rate was 5.3 percent, better than the month-before rate of 5.5 percent, the Beacon analysis showed. During the one-year period that ended in August, job totals expanded by 1.9 percent in the Bay Area. The U.S. job market expanded by 1.6 percent and California by 1.5 percent over the same period. 

“The Bay Area is growing more robustly than California and the nation as a whole,” said Jon Haveman, chief economist with Marin Economic Consulting. And, he added, “it is creating more jobs with better wages” than the nation and the state. 

Strong sectors 

The strongest industry in Santa Clara County during August was the tech-focused professional scientific and technical service sector, which gained 1,500 jobs. Another tech sector, information services and products, gained 900. But manufacturing added 1,200, administrative support was up 1,100, retail gained 800 and construction added 700 jobs, according to Beacon. 

“Tech is still the economic engine for Santa Clara County, but the majority of the new jobs that were added were outside of tech,” said Michael Bernick, a research fellow with the Milken Institute and a former director of the state EDD. “You are seeing real diversity in the Santa Clara County job market.” 

The strong gains during August aren’t an anomaly, said Steve Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy “The trend in the Bay Area is real,” Levy said. “Very strong job growth is building. You see expansion everywhere from San Jose to San Francisco, and now the East Bay has turned modestly positive. Because of tech, the Bay Area will continue to do well. You have Google, Apple, LinkedIn, Microsoft and other companies expanding their office space because they are hiring employees.”Contact George Avalos at 408-859-5167 or 408-3733556. Follow him at Twitter.com/georgeavalos. 

Another US jobs safe heaven going down?

I thought that this was happening long time back. I don't think this is new. However, interesting thing is how they are blaming new Obama care for acceleration in this area.. Apparently, as per new law insurers have to limit administrative costs below certain percentage of overall healthcare costs. Which makes sense.. but there is administrative work.. somehow it has to be done.. there is no magic into it.. unless you think outsourcing it to cheaper places.

I was thinking that this are was pretty much safe for US due to data privacy laws, but I am sure these guys must have figured out way to keep patient data safe some how ;-) For that matter, that data isn't that safe even in US. Actually, it could be more safer as they implement these outsourcing processes..

As long as I keep on getting better and cheaper care I don't mind whom I am talking to or who is giving me that care. Let the Capitalism take care of it. It is another lesson for US, to pour in more money into science and maths education and making college education more cheaper and affordable. Somehow, the scare against science and maths needs to go away from kids.. Despite one of the best education system, kids are not able to take advantage of it and many kids still drop out after high school to pick up basic service jobs. Currently there are plenty of jobs and it seems that for a young person they can make good enough money for that person to survive. However, these type of basic admin and service jobs will continue to get reduced.. Young kids and generation has to move into better high intellectual jobs. They better understand now vs.. when it will be too late..

Whatever, they are talking about getting manufacturing jobs back in US is just minor aberration at the best.. First of all, they are very few.. second, they are coming back only when there is no unions or essentially salaries are really very low as compared to what used to be. Capitalism will find its way to save money and generate more efficiencies and productivities. It is up to you how you benefit out of this capitalist system..


Big shift in health care jobs overseas

Many companies outsourcing work to Philippines, India

By Don Lee

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — After years of shipping data-processing, accounting and other back-office work abroad, some health care companies are starting to shift clinical services and decision-making on medical care overseas, primarily to India and the Philippines. Some of the jobs being sent abroad include so-called pre-service nursing, where nurses at insurance firms, for example, help assess patient needs and determine treatment methods.

Outsourcing such tasks goes beyond earlier steps by health care firms to farm out reading of X-rays and other diagnostic tests to health professionals overseas. Those previous efforts were often done out of necessity, to meet overnight demands, for instance.

But the latest outsourcing, which have contributed to the loss of hundreds of domestic health jobs, is done for financial reasons. And the outsourcing of nursing functions, in particular, may be the most novel — and possibly the most risky — of the jobs being shifted. At the forefront of the trend is WellPoint, one of the nation’s largest health insurers and owner of Anthem Blue Cross, California’s biggest for-profit medical insurer.

In 2010, WellPoint formed a separate business unit, Radiant Services, aimed at advancing outsourcing and other cost-saving strategies. WellPoint has eliminated hundreds of jobs in the U.S. over the past 18 months as it has moved jobs overseas, a company spokeswoman acknowledged.

The spokeswoman, Kristin Binns, said WellPoint’s shifting of clinical jobs overseas was a small part of the outsourcing and being done through Radiant because it has the technical expertise and can ensure compliancewith laws. Nursing organizations, however, were cautious. “It’s obviously a very disturbing trend,” said Chuck Idelson, a spokesman for the California Nurses Association. “There are serious questions if you’re talking about utilization reviews ... and making recommendations on procedures.” Nursing experts said there also may be licensing issues as states generally require certification for those practicing and dispensing health information. 

Current and former Radiant executives declined to comment or weren’t available. It’s not clear how many other U.S. health care firms have contracted with Radiant or other outsourcing specialists, but industry experts said companies were increasingly looking at more health care tasks that could be outsourced globally as they face greater cost pressures and sweeping changes in how they do business. Aetna has an arrangement with EXL Service, a U.S.-based company with operations in Manila, to provide “targeted caremanagement support,” spokeswoman Cynthia Michener said. Health Net, which is laying off dozens of information technology and accounting workers whose jobs are being sent to India, said its outsourcing has generally been confined to administrative and IT functions. UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, didn’t respond to inquiries. Outsourcing jobs out of the country has become a hot issue in the presidential campaign: President Obama is pounding Republican challenger Mitt Romney for his private equity firm’s involvement with companies that sent jobs abroad. Although such outsourcing has been going on for years, American manufacturers in recent years have brought some jobs back to the U.S. as labor costs have risen in China and elsewhere. 

Some experts argued that sending jobs abroad could help U.S. companies by enabling them to tap global talent and efficiencies, making them more profitable. When U.S. companies are stronger, the thinking goes, it creates more opportunities for American workers. Also, shifting operations to lower-wage countries can help consumers by holding down prices. 

Labor costs 

Outsourcing jobs to places such as the Philippines can save U.S. health care firms 30 percent in labor costs, according to experts. But the practice remains controversial, especially with the U.S. unemployment rate hovering above 8 percent. Patient advocates worry about crucial decisions involving a patient’s care being in the hands of foreign insurance adjusters. Analysts said there was another concern as well: patient privacy. Even something as straightforward as medical transcription can raise questions, said Uwe Reinhardt, a health care economist at Princeton University. Over the last year, Iowa Health System and hospitals in Utah and Washington state have joined other medical centers that have outsourced the transcribing of doctors’ notes and other records. 

“Suppose I’m an AIDS patient,” Reinhardt said. “That person in India would know — and ‘the information’ could be valuable to someone. ... For the U.S., there’s nothing more personal than health care.” Dr. Kaveh Safavi, head of the North American health practice for Accenture, a major consulting and outsourcing firm that has partnered with Well-Point’s Radiant, said nearly all countries have laws for protecting patient privacy. 

And to safeguard patients’ records, he said, health care companies store and maintain their records locally. 

As for outsourcing services that are more clinical in nature, he said, “People are looking at all the tasks that can safely and responsibly be moved. It’s still an emerging market. We’re still trying to understand the market’s tolerance for it.” 

In general, hospitals are moving more slowly than health insurers to send jobs overseas. But with financial pressures intensifying and the uptake of electronic record- keeping accelerating, analysts and industry people see more consolidation and outsourcing ahead. 

Virtual call center 

“Whenyouhavepeople’s medical, billing and other records kept electronically, then it opens it up to establishing a call center virtually anywhere,” said Steve Trossman, a Los Angeles spokesman for the Service Employees International Union, which represents hospital workers. “There is no longer a reason for it to be physically in the same place as the paper records.” 

Moreover, the health care reform law could prod insurers to move more jobs to cheaper-wage countries. The new law requires companies to spend 80 percent to 85 percent of premiums on medical care, limiting the amount available for administrative expenses. 

Few have been as aggressive as WellPoint, which made a profit of $2.65 billion last year on revenue of $60.7 billion. WellPoint’s total employment at the end of last year was 37,700, down from 40,500 two years earlier. 

In one of its recent efforts, WellPoint laid off pre-service nurses in Colorado and Nevada so the work could be done in Manila, according to a Labor Department filing by a WellPoint human resource manager in Denver. Well-Point spokeswoman Binns said none of the decisions that involve denial of procedures or treatment for patients are made overseas. 

Overall, Binns said, fewer than 2.5 percent of the 37,000 employees, or at most 925 workers, had lost jobs in the last 18 months as a result of work sent overseas. Only about 50 of those positions involved clinical management of care, she said. 

WellPoint’s “sourcing strategies have enabled us to make our services more effective, accessible and affordable to our customers, while allowing us to expand our programs and maintain our service levels,” she said. 

Shannon Cunningham of Columbus, Ohio, who processed medical claims for WellPoint, was laid off last month after a colleague went to the Philippines to train people to do her job. 

Cunningham, 43, said she received eight weeks of severance pay. She and others working in medical claims earned $30,000 to $40,000 a year with health benefits, she said. 

“I know other countries need work,” said Cunningham, a company employee for three years. But “I just felt like it wasn’t fair. We’re having a rough time too.” 




MICHAEL J. DOOLITTLE/BLOOMBERG NEWS 

Health insurer Aetna has a deal with EXL Service, a U.S.-based company with operations in Manila, to provide “targeted care-management support.” 

Fix US Corporate Tax Laws

They are highest in developed countries.. it is no surprise.. why will you like to pay 3.5 billion in tax when you don't need rest of the money.. this is crazy.. US needs some leader/s who can fix this tax code.. there are tons of other issues with tax codes.. but this is a big bummer.. they have to fix it..


Part of Apple’s profit on sales is stashed in other countries

Like other multinationals, tech giant seeks to change tax law

By Peter Svensson

Associated Press

NEW YORK — On Tuesday, Apple is set to report financial results for the second quarter. Analysts are expecting net income of $9.8 billion. But whatever figure Apple reports won’t reflect its true profit, because the company hides some of it with an unusual tax maneuver. Cupertino-based Apple, already the world’s most valuable company, understates its profits compared with other multinationals. It’s building up an overlooked asset in the form of billions of dollars, tucked away for tax bills it may never pay.

Tax experts say the company could easily eliminate these phantom tax obligations. That would boost Apple’s profits for the past three years by as much $10.5 billion, according to calculations by The Associated Press.

While investors might rejoice if Apple suddenly added $10.5 billion to its profits, unilaterally erasing a massive U.S. tax obligation could tarnish its reputation as a relatively responsible payer of U.S. taxes. Instead, the company is lobbying to change U.S. law so that it can erase its liabilities in a less conspicuous fashion.

Like other companies, Apple typically keeps profits on overseas sales in overseas accounts. When someone buys an iPad in Paris or Sydney, for instance, the profit stays outside the United States.

Apple may pay some corporate income taxes on that profit to the country where it sells the iPad, but it minimizes these by using various accounting moves to shift profits to countries with low tax rates.

Wao... Look at this.. Go Silicon Valley.. Go..

Despite very poor overall job report from the country.. there is some silver lining.. Rest of the country should learn from this... Some of the key numbers which are hidden deep bottom of this article about jobs.. 


San Jose Bay area created:

1. almost half (44%) of California jobs in month of June
2. one fifth (21%) of entire US jobs which means that almost half of the US jobs were created in California!!

Sad part mentioned in this article is... as per them need for technology and tech-equipment is even more due to slower growth in other areas. Which as per them makes employers to buy more technology to maximise their productivity.. I kind of disagree this statement.. I think, jobs where you need human power are difficult to be replaced by machines.. as per me human jobs are needed where you need brain to think!! not just using your hands to do some repeatable jobs.. those jobs are any how machine jobs..

Creation of jobs is about creating value added work.. though no offense to service industry but service industry jobs should follow real value enhancement jobs like R&D/Technology and manufacturing.. Manufacturing jobs are also coming back to US, but still, long way to go.. unless, US workers accept fact that they are not very high paying and all that Union etc.. bull-shit won't work.. it is difficult to get them back..

 Best hope for nation is to create technology jobs like in the ones being created in California.. California has two major job engines.. Technology in North and Media/Arts in South.. Now a days, even media/arts is heavily dependent on technology.. so essentially, you need big investments in technology for arts & media.. which enables lot of art/media work to be off-shored.. Which is a fact of life.. "Work, live, play.. Anywhere!!!" is going to be the way forward.. there is no escaping of it.

If you think you have Geo-Location advantage.. No.. you are wrong!!! it may give you slight edge in beginning but eventually someone else will catch up and take away your work and do it not only cheaper but most likely better.. Only way for you to sustain that job locally in that physical geo location is that you re-invent and continuously create additional value.. you have to be good in science/tech/arts/media.. whatever you are doing..

To enable this, US has to change few things.. Current education system prepares majority of kids to be ready for service industry or sales / marketing type of jobs.. unless.. parents works hard with kids to get their focus back to Science and Maths.. They have to change the way maths, science and more importantly technology is taught in elementary, middle and high-schools.. US has to make technology a mandatory subject like arts, language and maths etc.. upgrade technology infrastructure of schools..

US spends so much on education.. this mandatory technological upgrade cost will be nothing as compared to their regular spending.. they have to set it up right now.. it is already too late.. but better late than never. Kids over here are so brilliant (for that matter all the kids are brilliant) due great creative and lively way of education.. if kids start applying their same creative sense to technology as well.. there could be thousands of other silicon valleys across the US.. and then we don't have to look up only to Silicon Valley to create jobs..

Tech hiring spurs June jobs surge across Bay Area

By George Avalos

gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com 

The Bay Area job market roared to life in June, reversing a recent slowdown in growth by creating nearly 17,000 jobs.

A strong technology sector combined with robust job gains in the East Bay to produce the best onemonth job growth performance since September for the nine-county region.

“What really leaps off the page is the big gain in the East Bay,” said Michael Bernick, a research fellow with the Milken Institute. “The other big factor is technology. Tech, social media companies, Internet commerce firms — they are leading this.”

The East Bay added 7,400 jobs, the South Bay gained 4,000 and the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin metro region produced 6,100 new jobs, according to seasonally adjusted numbers from the state’s EmploymentDevelopment Department.

Overall, the Bay Area added 16,900 payroll jobs in June.

High tech accounted for at least one-quarter of the gains, this newspaper’s analysis of results supplied by Beacon Economics shows.

“We continue to see tech companies that are growing,” said Mark 

Howard, managing director of the Berkeley office of Management Recruiters. “That kind of expansion requires additional employees.” 

Two categories dominated by technology employees — professional, scientific and technical services, along with information services and products — combined for a gain of 4,700 jobs in June. The South Bay, East Bay and San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin regions all showed gains in these tech sectors. 

The upswing in the Bay Area was a welcome counterpoint to the sluggish employment gains of the spring. Employers added only 2,400 jobs in April and 3,800 in May, a sharp slowdown from the previous months of winter and fall. 

Some analysts feared that the suddenly sluggish job growth nationwide could produce a slowdown in the Bay Area. But the region produces what companies and other organizations want, said Jordan Levine, director of economic research with Beacon Economics. 

“Nationally, you still see a lot of purchases of computer equipment, Internet products and services, software,” Levine said. 

Ironically, the overall feeble U.S. economy may be giving a boost to the tech industry, according to Levine. “Tech is a way for employers to maximize productivity and efficiency without hiring employees,” he said. 

California added 38,300 jobs last month, which means the Bay Area accounted for 44 percent of all jobs added in the state — and 21 percent of the job gains for the entire nation. 

“The Bay Area has basically helped California get its mojo back,” said Steve Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. 

The statewide unemployment rate improved to 10.7 percent in June, compared with 10.8 percent in May, the EDD reported. 

The Bay Area jobless rate was 8.5 percent in June, down from 8.6 percent in May, the Beacon study found. The East Bay posted a 9.2 percent jobless rate in June, down from 9.3 percent the previous month; the South Bay was unchanged at 8.6 percent; the San Francisco area was at 7.1 percent, down from 7.2 percent the previous month. 

Non-tech sectors also enjoyed gains. The East Bay added 1,200 construction jobs and the South Bay added 700 wholesale trade jobs and 600 retail jobs. The San Francisco metro region gained 800 hotel and restaurant jobs. 

“The overall recovery has spread out from its base in technology,” said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific. 

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at twitter.com/george_avalos. 

Silicon Valley IPO machinery chugs along..

Good to see my favorite Kayak going public.. Honestly, I didn't realize that it could be such a big business that will go IPO.. Well.. this statement tells about my bullishness on it.. isn't it.. ;-)

All the best.. Keep getting money for our Bay Area!! As long as you get more money and jobs.. I am fine ;-)

Cheers!!

GOING PUBLIC

Palo Alto Networks, Kayak file for IPO

Pair of tech firms price shares as freeze following Facebook’s bungled debut begins to thaw

By Jeremy C. Owens

jowens@mercurynews.com 

A lull in stock market debuts for technology companies after Facebook’s record-breaking initial public offering has faded, as two tech companies made filings Monday for IPOs expected to occur this month.

Palo Alto Networks, a Silicon Valley network- security startup, and Kayak Software, a Connecticut-based company that runs a popular consumer travel website by the same name, filed prospective pricing for shares in their IPOs Monday, one of the final steps on the road to a public debut.

The IPO market has been stagnant for more than a month, as Facebook’s bungled Wall Street debut and unstable price — along with concerns about the macroeconomic situation and general stock instability — have kept startups on the sideline.

Facebook debuted May 18, and the inability of Nasdaq to handle the volume of trades, along with whispers of falling revenue projections, led to the stock falling hard in its first two weeks of public availability. 

The resulting fallout was seen in June, when only four companies went public, the lowest total for any month since the deepest point of the recession, in 2008, according to financial analysis firm PrivCo. Before that, an average of more than 13 companies were moving to the U.S. market every month in 2012, which was still below the pace set last year. 

However, companies that target big businesses as customers, like Palo Alto Networks, have proved strong this year — Silicon Valley enterprise software companies Splunk, Jive Software, Proofpoint and Infoblox are among those that have gone to market in the past year and have share prices higher than their IPO prices. 

Palo Alto Networks, which is actually based in Santa Clara, makes computer firewall and security software, and last year named former VeriSign CEO Mark McLaughlin to its top job. It is headed for its first year of profitability, showing a net gain of $5.3 million in the first nine months of its fiscal 2012, which ends July 31. In fiscal 2011, the company lost $6.5 million, its best performance up to that point. 

Revenues have been building quickly for the company, however, as they have risen from $13.4 million to $48.8 million to $118.6 million in the past three fiscal years, and the company raked in just shy of $180 million in the first nine months of this fiscal year. 

The only substantial tech IPO since Facebook was a similar company — San Diego-based ServiceNow, which provides cloud-based IT software services — and the company’s stock priced above its initial range and still increased 37 percent in its debut June 28. “ServiceNow shows that the appetite for fastgrowing tech companies in their growth cycle will be massive. I expect there to be good demand for Palo Alto,” Morningstar analyst Jim Krapfel said. The company will seek a price of $34 to $37 a share in its IPO, according to Monday’s filing, while selling 6.2 million shares, with 75.8 percent of the proceeds going to the company and the rest to early investors. The offering could bring in as much as $229.4 million. Kayak is a different kind of company, focused on Web consumers, who can be fickle, but competitors Priceline and Expedia have been two of the most successful stocks on the market in the past three years. Co-founders of rivals Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz joined together to launch the company in 2005, and the Norwalk, Conn., company has increased revenues and profits the past three years in a row, all of which showed a net gain. 

Kayak plans to price its IPO stock from $22 to $25 a share while offering 3.5 million shares, all from the company, for a possible total take of up to $87.5 million, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

“They don’t have too many value-added services and most people would rather go directly to the airlines’ websites for the same deal, which is cheaper,” said Scott Sweet, managing partner at IPO Boutique, an IPO research firm. Palo Alto Networks and Kayak are set to announce their final pricing July 19, Bloomberg News reported, after their roadshows. Morgan Stanley will be lead underwriter on both IPOs, after facing criticism for the same role in the Facebook IPO. 

“Their only possible solution is to hit the ball out of the park on their next couple of launches, and the onus is on them to succeed,” said Bahl & Gaynor’s Matt McCormick, who helps oversee $6.2 billion at the firm in Cincinnati. “Expectations are going to be high and people are going to be looking for issues, and if they can compete positively, that’s a win.” 

Mercury News staff writer Peter Delevett, Reuters and Bloomberg News contributed to this report. 

iPad mini? Really?

I am big fan of iPad mainly because of it's form factor, display, graphics rendering and excellent user interface. This smaller iPad, may be needed to compete with Google Nexus 7 and Aamzon Fire tablets.. As per this article it is similar to iPod and iPod mini concept. To be honest, I never liked iPod mini as well. May be it is my own form factor which makes me like only bigger form factors ;-) I do love my iPhone and have never able to use my 7 inch tablet over it..

I hope that this new iPad mini turns out to be better experience than other minis out there. I would have preferred that Apple continue with their older versions at cheaper prices to cater for lower end market. That would give them broader spectrum in terms of price range but won't give them form factor spread. This form factor IS unique differentiation for iPad any how.. I don't know, why they want to loose it.. May be, I should do MBA so I can understand their strategy..

However, I very strongly feel that it won't have good impact on Apple in long term. It may in turn start eating their own market instead of growing it overall. Moreover, impact of content on smaller screen size will further diminish their iTunes/Cloud eco-system value. In short term it will definitely help them and I do expect some share boost if analysts haven't already factored iPad mini in..

What I remember from older days that Jobs was totally against smaller form factors.. I am still supportive of his idea of iPad's form factor. I still believe that new management is focused on Stock price and that is the reason for all the new product line introductions instead of focusing on details and quality of the products. It is too early to see the direct impact of shift in change.. I hope that this doesn't happen as I really love Apple for the value they create out of their products is amazing and quality is usually much better than similarly configured devices.

SHIFT IN STRATEGY

Apple eyes smaller, lower-price iPad

With 7.85-inch screen, mini device would be designed to block competitors

By John Boudreau

jboudreau@mercurynews.com 

Apple may be on the verge of rewriting its iPad strategy by rolling out a smaller and less expensive model this fall, a move analysts say could further distance it from competitors already struggling to play catch-up.

A chorus of news organizations and analysts believe Apple is building an iPad mini — its display screen could be 7.85 inches instead of the current 9.7 inches — resembling the strategy it deployed for the iPod, in which the company offered digital media players with varying features and prices, including the low-end $49 iPod shuffle.

That move blocked lower-end competitors from grabbing market share from Apple, said Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bajarin. “It shows Apple is not afraid to segment its products,” he said.

While no one knows for sure what Apple’s next moves are until they announce them, industry experts increasingly believe a smaller iPad is in the offing.

Investors on Thursday appeared happy with increasing speculation that Apple is preparing to sell a smaller iPad. Shares of Apple closed up nearly 2 percent to $609.94.

Apple is not going to stand still as more tablet competitors try to encircle it, said Bajarin, noting Google’s new move into the market with its Nexus 7, a 7-inch device that starts at $200. Microsoft is planning to roll out a series of tablets called Surface.

Rumors about the development of a 7-inch iPad have been around for years. The market, though, may be right for one now, experts say. The late Steve Jobs dispar­aged a smaller-screen tablet in a 2010 conference call with analysts, saying it is too big to compete with an iPhone but too small to provide a good user experience. But technology and markets change, analysts say. 

Brian White, an analyst with Topeka Capital Markets, said there are a number of reasons why Apple would add a smaller iPad to its product offerings, including increasing its ability to tap deeper into developing markets such as China and taking a step to realizing Jobs’ vision of transforming the multibillion-dollar textbook industry by providing cheaper devices for K-12 students. 

“As you drop the price point and size, you are opening up consumers you weren’t addressing before,” he said. His firm’s research indicates a market exists for smaller iPads that sell for $250 to $300. 

White also believes a number of current iPad owners would be willing to buy the smaller model. Women, for instance, would like to be able to slip a slimmer iPad into purses while men could carry a smaller model inside sport coats, he said. 

“There will be some who want both” iPad models, White said. Although Jobs once inveighed against a smaller iPad, the Apple co-founder was known for changing his opinions, White said. And, he added, Jobs instructed CEO Tim Cook to run the company as he sees fit. And that could be shifting Apple’s iPad strategy. An iPad mini could cannibalize 10 to 20 percent of sales of the more expensive model, White said. But a cheaper iPad would also bring new customers to the Apple ecosystem, which frequently results in future sales of its other devices, observed Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. “This would be a competitor’s worst nightmare,” he said. “They already are having a hard time competing with the current iPad.” Apple’s latest model starts at $499; its older version is offered at $399. A less expensive iPad would take away the price advantage of competitors, Wu said. Last year, Apple had 62 percent of the tablet market, according to IHS iSuppli. Overall, the tablet market is expected to soar this year to 124 million units, up 90 percent from 65 million in 2011, the market research company projects. 

Apple’s ability to stay ahead of competitors allows the company to sell high volumes of new products. This enables the company to aggressively price its products while maintaining large profit margins, Wu said. He estimates the company’s profit margin on the new Retina display iPad is a bit under 40 percent, whereas the profit margin on the older model is about 40 percent. Competitors, on the other hand, have profit margins that range from 20 to 25 percent on their tablets, Wu said. 

Apple plows its large profits back into research and innovation in a way other consumer electronics companies can’t, he said. “That’s what makes Apple so dangerous,” Wu said. 

Bajarin said Apple learned the importance of creating a dominant computing platform — from Macintosh computers to iPhones — after Microsoft’s Windows franchise took over the global PC market decades ago. 

“They are dedicated to doing that, and this is part of that strategy,” he said of a smaller iPad. 

Contact John Boudreau at 408-278-3496. 

Is world's 8th largest economy really on recovery path?

If you guessed it.. California.. you are right about it!!! California economy happens to be approximately 2 trillion worth!! and if and IF it was a nation on its own, it would have be world's 8th Largest economy!!

I think California is biggest state of US in terms size of economy.. Northern California's Silicon Valley and Southern California's Entertainment Industry is more or less flagship which almost defines US in rest of the world. I agree.. New Yorkers.. don't get angry.. I was coming to you.. You also define US big time.. it doesn't mean rest of the states are Chillar Party (coin change - sorry folks, couldn't come up with better term in English).  for those who are interested in finding about California.. please visit Wikipedia page for California for more interesting facts an figures.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California

Any how.. coming back to basics.. Is California really recovering? One point of time unemployment was around 12%. Recently it has come back to less than 10%. Which is progress.. and once people's mentality changes about California, that it is back on track.. there could be easy rush towards further growth and development.

There are some dangers ahead.. Weather is one of them.. This year's almost negligible snow falls on Sierra mountains has forced irrigation water cut for central valley farmers. Which will definitely hit the progress.. Central Valley is responsible for almost half of the entire US' fresh farm produce.. I agree that US mostly imports.. but whatever is freshly produced locally, our California's central valley contributes half of it. So it could be big hit to those farming community. Fortunately or unfortunately there share in economy is still very small but job impact could be high.

Everyone is saying that housing has bottomed out.. but I thought I heard this more than year back and still prices are going down and down.. Hopefully this time economists are correct!! Even I want to see some equity in my house back. Once housing turns around, that would be big sentimental shift and that can drive many other things here. If you are educated or rather than that, if you are in High Tech there is already almost boom time for jobs. But beyond high tech things are still bad. Hopefully this growth in Hight Tech will spill over to other areas of economy and spur growth over there..

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20275337/california-economic-outlook-brightens-bit-new-study-says

Forecast: California to continue job growth

Researchers see state jobless rate dipping below 10% next year

By George Avalos

gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com 

The economic outlook for California has perked up and the state should escape double-digit jobless levels more quickly than previously thought, researchers said Wednesday.

“Things look slightly better,” said Jerry Nickelsburg, a senior economist with the UCLA Anderson Forecast, which released its quarterly outlook.

California is expected to suffer a 10.8 percent average jobless rate this year, but that should improve to an average of 9.8 percent next year.

That outlook is brighter than the group’s previous view. In December, the Anderson Forecast predicted a 10.5 percent unemployment rate for 2013.

“We are seeing improvement in the labor markets,” Nickelsburg said.

What’s more, job growth should steadily improve in the coming years, the researchers predicted.

The number of payroll jobs in California increased 1.2 percent last year, according to the Employment Development Department.

The Anderson Forecast said that pattern of job growth should continue, with statewide payroll increases of 1.3 percent this year, 1.9 percent next year and 2.5 percent in 2014, the economists said. “Things do look like they are going to be a little better in California, given the recent sharp drop in the state’s unemployment rate,” said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Stockton based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific. 

The nationwide job market is also on the upswing. But growth in the United States still doesn’t look that great, according to a report for the Anderson Forecast that was prepared by senior economist David Shulman. 

“We are growing, but curb your enthusiasm,” Shulman said. 

The economy added an average of 250,000 jobs in the first two months of this year. That would work out to a rate of 3 million jobs a year. But Shulman said he doesn’t think that kind of growth can be sustained. 

Instead, the nation is more likely to add 160,000 to 200,000 jobs a month on average, he said. That would equate to an annual pace of 1.2 million to 2.4 million jobs. 

The strong job growth in January and February was boosted by mild weather around the country, Shulman said. 

“There was more construction, more outdoor work, people went to restaurants and the mall,” he added. 

The rebound in California is being led by industries that are strong in the Bay Area. 

“Tech industries, professional, scientific and technical services, health care, computers and electronics — those are all doing very well,” Nickelsburg said. 

More recently, improvements have begun to surface in some industries that have lagged. Retail, along with leisure and hospitality, are rebounding, Nickelsburg said. 

The Bay Area is likely to remain in the vanguard of the recovery for California, analysts said. 

“The Bay Areahasdefinitely been leading the rebound for the last six months or so,” said Michael, the UOP economist. “We think the Bay Area will continue to outpace the rest of the state in job gains.” 

During the one-year period that ended in February, job totals in the Bay Area grew 1.9 percent, more than double the pace of statewide job growth of 0.9 percent. 

“The rebound started in Silicon Valley and now the improvement is spreading throughout the Bay Area,” Michael said. 

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at Twitter.com/george_avalos. 

Is Silicon Valley Housing is back to bubble or just booming?

Great news items on front page of our local news paper. Seems that housing boom is back and it is more or less fueled by dot.com type of boom of Facebook, Google and many more successful tech companies.

In part it is fueled by higher employment gains in technology area which is again attracting inflow of technology workers back in valley. Palo Alto especially is favorite of all is considered safe heaven as it has great schools, great neighborhood of rich and famous. Even in worst of times, I haven't heard Palo Alto real estate going down. At the most it stagnates... However, boom does percolate to rest of the region and spreads to entire valley.

It is quite contrary to rest of the US that real estate is going up in Valley. But I guess, it is all about supply and demand. Lot of investment is from China, Russia and rest of the world. Which is quite obvious as weather is perfect and on top of it, if you want to do anything in technology area, this is THE PLACE to be.

Silicon valley is best example of the fact that Cost of Doing Business doesn't matter as long as you can do business and make money out of it. Silicon Valley has one of the highest possible cost of business with highest property rates, highest Utility rates, highest cost of employees, highest rate of taxes and one of the highest gas prices (except Hawaii). Despite that people come here and start business. Why? One reason could be luck or chance that Chip/Software some how got bootstrapped here. Another more persistent one is consistent climate of technology with abundant best Universities and abundant Capital availability from bunker hill road. All that surpasses any deterrent in form of cost.

I hope this boom will continue and will be a reasonable boom rather than bubble type of like it was in 2005s. All friends and family members.. if you want to move in, this is right time. jump in!!!


http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20235268/buyers-compete-short-supply-homes-bay-area

SHIFT IN BAY AREA HOUSING

BIDDINGWAR

IN SOUTH BAY, TECH WORKERS DRIVE UP MARKET; IN EAST BAY, PENT-UP DEMAND FUELS BUYING BOOM


By Pete Carey

pcarey@mercurynews.com 

Peter Giovannotto is smack in the middle of a major shift in the Bay Area housing market.

The Peninsula real estate agent recently had a modest Palo Alto ranch-style home draw 38 offers and sell in eight days for nearly a half-million dollars more than the asking price, all par for the course in Palo Alto’s overheated real estate market.

“We started at $1.2 million and ended up selling for $1.65 million,” he said.

A flock of eager buyers competing for fewer-thanusual homes for sale is sending prices soaring along the Peninsula, where Googlers and Facebook employees duke it out with foreign investors for a place to live.

In other parts of the Bay Area, pent-up demand has helped create a hot market for lower-cost homes, with buyers having to move fast to grab foreclosures and be prepared for stiff competition on other homes for sale. In Contra Costa County, pending sales of single-family homes are up about 62 percent from last year and inventory is down 32 percent — a seller’s market.

“We are getting lots of multiple offers on lowerend properties,” said Barbara Safran, president of the Contra Costa Association of Realtors. “One person told me they had 12 offers on a property in Concord.”

CHUCK TODD/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 

The winning bidder on the Palo Alto home was a Google employee from China, highlighting two trends: the rise of the wealthy tech buyer and the buyer from Asia. “We’re seeing lot more buyers from that region,” Giovannotto said. “It’s difficult to buy property over there, and the power of their money is greater over here.” 

Another Palo Alto home drew 10 offers recently, selling for $325,000 over the asking price. 

In the East Bay, a relatively small supply of lowerpriced homes and an increase in demand has homebuyers jumping. 

Two couples working with Danville real estate agent Kevin Kieffer of Keller Williams used the “strike first” method Kieffer advocates to grab their homes this month. He tells clients that in this market, they have to make a bid almost immediately, not wait until the weekend when the bulk of buyers are looking. If it’s a foreclosure, the bank is likely to welcome a decent offer, he said. 

Cameron and Rissa Kossen bought a bank-owned Martinez house that’s near Pleasant Hill schools for $313,000 by making an offer quickly. Had he waited until the weekend, Cameron Kossen said, other buyers would have made offers and “it would have gone up to $330,000 or $340,000.” 

Another East Bay couple, Ken and Ashley Wilson, were outbid on three homes before landing the fourth, a threebedroom, two-bath house in Pleasant Hill. 

“The housing market is moving so quick that houses would come on the market and my wife and I were having to make decisions almost at that minute, because there were others willing to purchase the home right then,” said Ken Wilson, who works at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. 

On both sides of San Francisco Bay, real estate agents say fewer homes than usual are for sale. 

“Menlo Park and Palo Alto are both desperate for inventory,” said Wendy McPherson of Coldwell Banker in Menlo Park. She said that Palo Alto recently had only about 30 homes for sale. 

Ray Chavez of Alain Pinel in Los Gatos sold a home in Santa Clara that received five offers in six days and sold for $17,000 over the asking price of $609,000, a big bump in that market for a small home. 

“It’s amazing what’s not out there right now,” he said. “There are only 32 homes in the whole city of Santa Clara. We’re down 74 percent from February 2011.” 

The threat of historically low interest rates rising further — the rates rose above 4 percent this week — combined with increased confidence in the economy is bringing out buyers who have been holding back. 

“I think it’s a little bit like Christmas,” said Safran of the Contra Costa Association of Realtors. “People finally started buying again this Christmas when they hadn’t bought for three years. I think they’re just ready. It’s time.” 

Sales were up across the Bay Area in February, the strongest showing for that month in five years, according to DataQuick, a real estate information service. 

Silicon Valley is having its fourth-highest year in sales since 2000, said Richard Calhoun of Creekside Realty in San Jose. Calhoun, who has tracked the inventory of homes for sale in Santa Clara County for more than a decade, said that in some parts of Silicon Valley, including the Palo Alto area, the entire stock of homes for sale would be exhausted in less than a month. 

“The housing market has definitely bottomed and is on a recovery path,” said Ken Rosen, chairman at the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley. “I think it is a real recovery happening, around the whole country.” 

Contra Costa County, saturated with foreclosures, is still 18 months away from a full recovery and a normal housing market, Rosen said. “There’s going to be a spillover from San Francisco and the Bay Area, but it hasn’t happened yet.” 

Some would-be sellers on the Peninsula seem to be holding out until next year, when Facebook’s newly minted millionaires will begin spending their money, potentially driving up prices even more. 

Sellers are “getting greedy” and pulling homes off the market, said Alex H. Wang of Rainmaker Properties in Los Altos. “They get multiple offers on their house and say, ‘I don’t want to sell anymore. I’ll wait until next year.’ That upsets everybody.” 

Contact Pete Carey at 408-920-5419. 




LIPO CHING/STAFF PHOTOS 

Real estate agents Peter Giovannotto, left, and Chris Iverson stand in front of a Palo Alto ranch-style house that received 38 offers and sold in eight days for $1.65 million, $450,000 more than the asking price. The agents used the lights as part of a renovation theme during the selling period. 







The three-bedroom, two-bathroom Palo Alto house features a modest living room and a double oven, but the top oven didn’t work at the time of the $1.65 million sale. 

============================
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20242869/bay-area-adds-more-than-15-000-jobs

LEADS STATE IN JOB GROWTH

Bay Area notches three-year high in employment

By George Avalos

gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com 

The Bay Area economy created 15,400 jobs in February, raising total employment in the region to the highest level in three years, the state’s Employment Development Department reported Friday.

But despite positive job growth in the Bay Area, the net gain statewide was a mere 4,000 jobs.

“California’s economy is being led by the Bay Area,” said Scott Anderson, senior economist with Wells Fargo Securities. “The Bay Area is certainly the bright spot in the state.”

The Bay Area has added jobs for seven consecutive months, and all three major urban centers in the nine-county region are now making significant employment gains. The South Bay added 4,100 jobs last month, while the East Bay gained 3,200 and the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin region added 7,100, seasonally adjusted figures showed. 

“The Bay Area is producing what the world wants,” said Jon Haveman, chief economist with the Bay Area Council’s Economic Institute. “High-end computer manufacturing, information services, professional and business services are all doing well and creating jobs.” 

To be sure, the Bay Area has a long way to go to recapture the jobs lost during the recession. Still, the current job trends show the region also has come a long way since the depths of the downturn. 

Employment totals in the Bay Area are now at their highest levels since February 2009. The East Bay and South Bay are at similar multiyear highs. 

The statewide jobless rate was 10.9 percent last month, unchanged from January. The United States had an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent in February, which also was the same as in January. 

In February, the South Bay posted a jobless rate of 8.7 percent, down from 8.9percent the previous month; the East Bay’s was unchanged at 9.3 percent, while the San Francisco area’s was at 7.4 percent, worse than the previous month’s 7.3 percent rate, a Beacon Economics estimate culled from the EDD figures shows. 

The overall Bay Area jobless rate was 8.6 percent in February, an improvement from the 8.7 percent rate in January, according to this newspaper’s analysis of the Beacon figures. 

Through much of the recovery from the recession, the South Bay and San Francisco regions led in job growth, bolstered by the fastexpanding tech sector. The East Bay, ground zero for the meltdown of the housing market, has lagged. 

Now, however, the East Bay has joined the upswing, which bodes well for overall economic prospects in the Bay Area. The 3,200 jobs East Bay employers added in February follow a gain of 9,400 jobs in January. 

Despite the improvements, the hunt for employment remains a struggle for some job seekers. 

Even the information technology sector isn’t uniformly hot for job seekers. Gabriel Garcia, a San Jose resident, is finding that IT employers prefer to hire people for temporary contract jobs rather than full-time positions. 

“It seems that things are picking up,” Garcia said. “But it’s been harder than I expected.” 

Despite the tough times, Newark resident Sarah Babbitt, a mother of two, is not discouraged as she seeks a job in retail or restaurant management. 

“I’ve been looking for work for about two months,” Babbitt said. “But I’m confident in my skills. I’ll be able to find something.” 

The region is poised to produce more employment opportunities for job seekers, analysts predicted. 

“The Bay Area has longterm fundamentals that are better than pretty much anywhere else in the world,” Haveman said. “That is the result of the frontier economy that we have in this region.” 

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at Twitter.com/george_avalos. 

Is "Occupy Wall Street" movement a fraud?

Amazing news item in today's local San Jose Mercury News about definition of poverty in US and comparing it to rest of the world. Here are some striking facts about it:

 - As per US definition of "Poverty" family of four which makes less than $22K per year is poor
 - Fifteen percent of US population falls under this so called poverty line
 - This is all time high
 - Average income in Thailand is half of the poverty line definition of US
 - Poland's average income is almost same as US poverty line
 - India's average income is almost two third of US poverty line

Bottom line, Eighty (80) percent of world population lives below US poverty line standards. In US, anyone who can be qualified as "poor" as per US definition is eligible for safety net (Social Security, Medi-Care, food stamps etc..).

Doesn't this makes joke of this so called "Occupy Wall Street" movement.. These people better should spend their energy and resources to help rest of the world's eighty percent population. But why should they? that is not their problem.. and exactly that attitude makes them US a common target of hatred and animosity. Though this is general perception, I still feel it is more of jealousy. I know I am writing something which lot of people won't like.. but in my view that is the fact. US standard of living are higher than rest of the world and they have worked hard in past to build infrastructure and system for which they are reaping rewards. US has full right to define own standards of poverty.

Ultimately it is all relative.. Isn't it? I take India's example of poverty. Every time I visit standards of living are going up and so is definition of poverty. Which is exactly relative to progress made by the nation.. Though, I must admit that there must be many part or section of people who are still in same condition and progress hasn't reached them for a while. But it will percolate to all parts of society and population.

Having seen poverty standards of India .. Coming back to US. I feel all the charity work here is a joke. Personally I feel that there shouldn't be any need of charitable organizations in US. The level of progress and development makes it a joke out of charity here. In US focus should be to create jobs for these unemployed people. That will have much bigger impact than distributing wealth as charity. Jobs growth will enable government and other organizations to take care of so called poor and some really disadvantaged people.

But then, same is true for rest of the world.. Isn't it.. I am listening to slogan like "Gareebi hatao" (remove poverty) since my childhood in India.. Did it removed or made any progress. Instead it just created more corrupt society and enabled richer get even more richer by this social net. What if spending billions of dollars for this, we would have spent it on infrastructure to enable ease of business and creation of production facility.. that would have definitely made difference. Which is still true..

Well this discussion is endless.. but give it a thought and let me know your views..

====================

THE GLOBALIST QUIZ

Where do poor Americans rank globally?

The weekly quiz is provided by the Globalist, a daily online feature service that covers issues and trends in globalization. The nonpartisan organization provides commercial services and nonprofit educational features.

QUESTION


The Occupy Wall Street movement brought a fresh focus to poverty and income distribution in the United States. According to recent Census Bureau numbers, about 15 percent of Americans live below the poverty line, the highest percentage in 18 years. But how does U.S. poverty compare in a global context? We wonder: The Americans whose income is just low enough to be classified as poor, according to U.S. standards, are still better-off than …

ANSWER

A. About 22 percent of the world population

B. About half of the world population

C. About 65 percent of the world population

D. About 80 percent of the world population

A. About 22 percent of the world population is not correct.

Those among the poorest 22 percent of the world’s population are incredibly poor by U.S. standards.

They are the 1.3 billion people who, according to new World Bank data, have incomes below what the World Bank designates as the absolute poverty line: $1.25 per day — or roughly $450 per year. There are just no such poor people in the United States. Although U.S.

poverty thresholds are differentiated by gender, age, place of residence, and other criteria, the average poverty line for a “typical” household of four is $22,400 annually. This works out as a little over $15 per day per person — or 12 times higher than the World Bank absolute poverty line.

B. About half of the world population is

not correct.

People exactly in the middle of the global income distribution have incomes of less than $1,500 a year per person (adjusted for purchasing power), or just a bit over $4 per day. This is close to the average level of income in countries such as Cambodia and the Philippines.

Again, there are no such poor people in the United States or in the rest of the rich world.

C. About 65 percent of the world population is not correct.

People who are near the 65th percentile by income in the world make about $2,800 a year per person (also adjusted for purchasing power). This is the average income level of people in Thailand. There are indeed some among the very poor in the United States whose incomes are about that level.

They are considered “extra poor” by U.S.

standards.

D. About 80 percent of the world population is correct.

The income of those who are just sufficiently “bad off” to be considered poor in the United States is about $5,600 a year per person (or $22,400 for a fourperson household).

This is slightly less than the average income in Poland, and it makes these Americans better- off than about 80 percent of the world population, according to economist Branko Milanovic, author of a recent book on global income distribution, “The Haves and the Have-Nots.” The poorest Americans benefit from a social safety net that the vast majority of the world’s poor must do without.

Go Silicon Valley.. Go!!

Keep on pumping up Silicon Valley's job machine!! Everyone who is not in Silicon Valley, this is perfect time to move back in.. Hurry up :-)

Cheers!!

‘TURNING THE CORNER’

Bay Area tallies strong job gain

Region adds nearly 14,000 workers in January as East Bay, in turnabout, accounts for lion’s share of growth

By George Avalos

gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com 

The Bay Area economy zoomed out of the starting blocks in January by adding nearly 14,000 jobs, according to a new state government report issued Friday.

Meanwhile, employers nationwide added 227,000 payroll jobs in February, although the U.S. jobless rate remained unchanged at 8.3 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Last month’s upswing follows a gain of 284,000 jobs in January. The two months of steady hiring nationwide are a strong indication that robust job growth in the Bay Area will continue.

“The economy is gaining momentum,” said Brad Kemp, director of regional research with Beacon Economics. “I do think things are turning the corner.”

In contrast to the Bay Area and national trends, California struggled in January, a report released Friday by the Employment Development Department showed.

Statewide, employers cut 5,200 jobs, although the jobless rate improved to 10.9 percent in January, down from 11.2 percent in December and the lowest rate since April 2009. 

“The Bay Area is leading the state, it has been running ahead of the state, and the gap has even widened,” said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Stockton-based Business Forecasting Center at University of the Pacific. 

Perhaps the most encouraging development in the Bay Area employment picture was the gain of 9,300 jobs in the East Bay, which accounted for two-thirds of the 13,800 jobs added in the Bay Area in January. 

“What is striking about the numbers is the job growth in the East Bay,” said Michael Bernick, a San Franciscobased research fellow with the Milken Institute, and a former EDD director. “The South Bay has had dramatic job growth, the San Francisco metro area has had high job growth, but the East Bay has been lagging.” 

The East Bay upswing means all three of the Bay Area’s major metro areas are poised to expand in tandem. 

“The good news is no longer limited to the South Bay, which is growing strongly,” Michael said. “The San Francisco area is showing solid growth. It’s been a tough four or five years for the East Bay, but this month was a big positive.” 

The East Bay’s jobs uptick follows a string of economic calamities over the past two years, including the shutdown of an auto plant and solar factor, and the continuing consequences of the housing meltdown. 

“This January number is encouraging for the East Bay, although you have to see how it plays out,” Michael said. “But it’s time for the East Bay to come around.” 

The East Bay’s job gains were led by a surge in an array of industries, according to a Beacon Economics analysis. Administrative support and temporary employment gained 2,200 jobs, retail added 2,100, construction was up 1,500, health care gained 1,400 and the techheavy professional scientific and technical services sector added 1,200 jobs. 

In the South Bay, admin-istrative support and temporary employment was up by 1,000 jobs, while professional, scientific and technical services gained 900. 

Unemployment rates in the Bay Area have improved steadily. The South Bay jobless rate of 9.1 percent in January was down from 10.8 percent a year earlier. The East Bay jobless rate was 9.6 percent, compared with 11.1 percent a year ago, and the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin region’s rate was 7.5 percent, compared with 8.9 percent in January 2011. 

The state’s annual revision of previous estimates for job trends provided additional sparkle for the region’s economic picture. 

The Bay Area had 6,800 more jobs during 2011 than analysts thought initially, according to the EDD revision. 

The South Bay had 1,600 additional jobs and the San Francisco metro area had 4,200 more jobs compared with the original data. The East Bay job market was a bit weaker than thought, with 800 fewer jobs. 

“The strength in high-tech areas supports the finding that the state economy is continuing to recover with the largest gains in technology and foreign trade and in the urban coastal regions,” said Steve Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. 

With the gains in January, the Bay Area has now added jobs for six straight months. 

“This is a trend and not a bend,” Kemp said. “The Bay Area is doing better than most regions.” 

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at Twitter.com/george_ avalos. 




DAMIAN DOVARGANES/ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Statewide, employers cut 5,200 jobs in January, as job hunters in Southern California fill out employment forms Friday to get an interview at a Goodwill job fair in Bell.