South Bay leads nation in job growth

The South Bay led the nation in job growth over the past year, according to a new government report -- and economists predict the region's surge will power a Bay Area expansion.

During the 12 months that ended in October, the South Bay job market grew by 3.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Meanwhile, the East Bay employment sector expanded by 0.1 percent. The pace of job growth in the South Bay was nearly triple the nationwide rate and almost double the growth rate for California. And improvement in the Bay Area job market is likely to continue, according to a new UCLA Anderson Forecast. "The Bay Area will be the fastest-growing economy in California in the coming few years, based on employment and income growth," said Jerry Nickelsburg, a senior economist with the Anderson Forecast. This time around, the growth has a better foundation than during the dot-com bubble.