Just in case you thought Silicon Valley was somehow immune from the currently high levels of US unemployment, the graph above, published by Silicon Alley Insider, shows we are just as stuffed as everywhere else is in the Golden State. To judge quite how crappy this is, you have to appreciate that outside of the Bay Area the only other industries you can work in are (a) agriculture, the employment of which isn't even measured because it's all done by undocumented workers and (b) construction, which has basically stopped.
Please also note one other thing: the current unemployment level is 2.5 points higher than it was after the dot com bust in 2001. In other words, not only is tech having a major workforce meltdown again this time around but so too is just about every other aspect of the Bay Area employment scene.
Although this might be good if you are moving into the area because you already have a new job here (cheaper housing, less traffic on the roads, eager contractors to fix things on your new house) it's makes it very tough for anyone who is already here but unemployed.
Make you think that maybe taking the leap now and changing jobs is a move you might want to think twice about unless it's somehow more secure than where you are today. It 'aint pretty out there in new job land just now ....
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