Full Employment in Silicon Valley

Unemployment in the San Jose metro area fell dramatically last month, by nearly 1%, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reports. The drop was driven largely by hiring in government and health care, and brings the area’s unemployment rate down to 5.4%–“close to what the Congressional Budget Office considers full employment,” writes the Business Journal‘s Eric van Susteren.

The Bay Area shares with the Washington, D.C. metro area a relative isolation from economic trends that have buffeted the rest of the nation in a stagnant economy. Both regions trend strongly Democratic and were key areas of support for President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. Overall, unemployment in California remains stubbornly among the nation’s highest, particularly in inland regions.