Staff recommends keeping San Jose’s jobs‑to‑employed‑resident target at 1.1 despite historic shortfall
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Summary
Planning staff recommended retaining a 1.1 jobs‑to‑employed‑resident (JER) target—above the observed ~0.82—arguing the aspirational goal preserves jobs capacity, fiscal sustainability and environmental aims; commissioners debated whether the target is realistic as housing increases.
City planning staff told the task force that the jobs‑to‑employed‑resident (JER) target in the Envision San Jose 2040 general plan should remain at 1.1 jobs per employed resident.
"The current target in the Envision San Jose general plan 2040 is 1.1 jobs per employed resident and the observed JER since adoption has averaged 0.82," staff said in the presentation. Staff explained the JER measures how well employment opportunities match the residential base: a higher ratio means more residents can work locally and reduces commuting, greenhouse‑gas emissions and traffic.
Staff recommended retaining the 1.1 target because lowering it would require reducing assumed job capacity in environmental review and could limit the city's ability to respond to a future large job‑generating project. "Maintaining this current ratio also supports key general plan goals including fiscal sustainability, environmental performance, transportation efficiency, and complete communities," staff said.
Commissioners characterized the target as largely aspirational and debated whether increasing housing capacity without commensurate job growth will make the target harder to reach. One commissioner said the ratio helps protect employment lands that provide higher net fiscal benefits to the city, while others noted the region’s job mix (many knowledge‑economy jobs can be remote or happen outside traditional job sites) makes the 1.1 threshold ambitious compared with historical averages (~0.8).
Next steps: staff will keep the 1.1 JER target in the draft recommendations for now and will continue to evaluate corridor and parcel changes while preserving employment lands where feasible. Any formal change to the JER target would require adjusting background assumptions in the city's environmental review.
