Bay Area suffers job losses in March as hiring slowdown jolts region

Downtown Oakland, March 2023.

The Bay Area economy, staggered by a widening slump in the tech sector, lost thousands of jobs during March, a disquieting jolt that hints at a slowdown in the region’s economy.

The loss of 5,600 jobs in the Bay Area, reported Friday by a government labor agency, brings to a halt a remarkable streak of employment gains in the nine-county region that had extended 25 consecutive months. The Bay Area last lost jobs in January 2021, this news organization’s analysis of the government releases shows.

The East Bay shed 6,400 jobs in March while the San Francisco-San Mateo region — hit hard by employment cutbacks in the tech sector, lost 5,600 jobs last month, the labor agency reported.

The South Bay was the main bright spot in an otherwise grim report. Santa Clara County added 2,200 jobs in March, the primary reason why the employment setbacks in the Bay Area weren’t worse.

Santa Clara County has now gained jobs for 26 consecutive months. All of the numbers were adjusted for seasonal variations.

California’s job growth crawled to a near halt in March, according to the report. California added a puny 8,700 jobs last month, a tiny gain for a state that has 17.97 million nonfarm payroll jobs.

The statewide unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.4%. The jobless rate in California, however, is noticeably higher than the record-low figure of 3.8% unemployment that the state posted in July and August of 2022.