The Bay Area produced several thousand jobs during September, a hiring upswing that was robust enough to account for nearly half of all the employment gains in all of California last month, a new report shows.
All three of the Bay Area’s major metro areas, the South Bay, East Bay and the San Francisco-San Mateo region, gained jobs last month, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday.
The Bay Area added 6,700 jobs in September on the heels of a revised increase of 1,400 positions in the region in August, the EDD reported.
The upswing in the Bay Area in September was a welcome counterpoint to what had been a trend toward paltry job growth over the summer.
During September, the San Francisco-San Mateo region added 2,800 jobs, the East Bay gained 2,500 positions and the South Bay added 200 jobs, according to the state labor agency’s report.
California added a feeble 14,700 jobs in September, according to the state government release.
This means the Bay Area produced nearly 46% of the jobs added statewide last month.
The statewide unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.3%.
For more than two years, California’s jobless rate has been trending steadily higher since reaching an all-time low of 3.8% in August 2022.