Downtown and Lake Merritt can be seen from this drone view of Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, March 16, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
The Gulf region’s economy, which has been faltering due to a growing recession in the technology sector, lost thousands of jobs during the month of March, a worrying shock that indicates a slowdown in the region’s economy.
The loss of 5,600 jobs in the Bay Area, the state labor agency reported Friday, halted a remarkable streak of employment gains in the region’s nine counties that spanned 25 straight months. The last time the Gulf region lost jobs was in January 2024, according to this news organization’s analysis of government data.
The East Bay shed 6,400 jobs in March, the labor agency reported, while the San Francisco-San Mateo area — hard hit by tech sector hiring cuts — lost 5,600 jobs last month.
South Bay was the main bright spot in a bleak report. Santa Clara County added 2,200 jobs in March, which is the main reason job setbacks in the Bay Area have not worsened.
Santa Clara County has now had jobs for 26 consecutive months. All figures have been adjusted for seasonal changes.
According to the report, job growth in California nearly came to a halt in March. California added a measly 8,700 jobs last month, a tiny gain for a state with 17.97 million nonfarm jobs.
The statewide unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.4%. However, California’s unemployment rate is significantly higher than the record low unemployment rate of 3.8% that the state recorded in July and August of 2024.
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