Bay Area job gains amid statewide weakness
The Bay Area added jobs in February with gains concentrated in the South Bay and Peninsula, even as California overall lost positions during the same period. Southern California’s hiring performance was notably weaker, with one report saying growth there is running about 48% below normal. (eastbaytimes.com) (ocregister.com)
Bay Area employers added jobs in February even as California lost 19,900 payroll positions statewide. (edd.ca.gov) California’s unemployment rate held at 5.4% in February, while the state’s nonfarm payroll decline was its first monthly drop since September 2025, according to the Employment Development Department. The February survey week included Feb. 12, and the data was released April 17. (edd.ca.gov) The Bay Area’s gains were concentrated in the South Bay and on the Peninsula, where recent labor-market reports had already shown lower unemployment than the state. In January, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area posted a 4.3% unemployment rate and the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City division posted 3.9%, versus 5.5% statewide on an unadjusted basis. (labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov 1) (labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov 2) The East Bay entered the year on weaker footing. In January, the Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley division had a 4.7% unemployment rate, and its year-over-year job growth was just 0.5%, with manufacturing down 4,900 jobs and professional and business services down 3,600. (labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov) Statewide, February’s biggest drag came from private education and health services, which lost 24,100 jobs after what EDD said had been 28 straight months without a decline. Leisure and hospitality also lost 4,700 jobs, while government added 5,800 and professional and business services added 4,100. (edd.ca.gov) That split helps explain why the Bay Area could add jobs while California as a whole slipped. South Bay and Peninsula economies remain more exposed to technology, corporate services, and higher-wage office work, while statewide totals were pulled down by sectors hit by a major strike and by softer restaurant and hotel hiring. (edd.ca.gov) (labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov 1) (labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov 2) Southern California has looked weaker by a separate yardstick. The Orange County Register reported that employers across the six-county Southern California region had 9.94 million jobs in January, up 65,500 from a year earlier, which it said was about 48% below the region’s 16-year average pace of hiring. (ocregister.com) The same report said Orange County had 1.72 million jobs in January, up 19,100 from a year earlier, while Los Angeles County had 4.66 million, up 27,000. San Diego County added 7,800 jobs over the year, and Ventura County added 200, with the Register describing Ventura’s pace as 93% below its 16-year average. (ocregister.com) The next California labor-market snapshot arrives May 1, when the state is scheduled to release March 2026 employment data. That report will show whether February was a one-month split between a firmer Bay Area and a softer statewide economy, or the start of a wider shift. (labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
