The Bay Area and California added jobs in November, but amid widening tech and biotech mass layoffs, the employment gains in both regions slowed significantly, a government report released on Friday shows.
The nine-county Bay region added 7,400 jobs in November, the new report shows. That increase, however, was the third-smallest monthly gain so far during the first 11 months of 2022, the new report from the state Employment Development Department shows.
The South Bay added 2,000 jobs, the East Bay gained 1,100 and the San Francisco-San Mateo metro area added 3,000 jobs. All the numbers were adjusted for seasonal variations.
California added 26,800 jobs in November. The job gains in California were the second-smallest so far this year.
The statewide unemployment rate worsened to 4.1% in November, up from 4% in October, the EDD reported.
The slowing employment gains coincided with big spikes in job cuts being undertaken by tech and biotech companies, high-profile players such as the owner of the Facebook app, Amazon, Twitter, Lyft, Roku, Oracle, Doordash and Juul.
It’s possible that the tech and biotech job terminations, which began in October but became pronounced in November, could be starting to undermine the Bay Area job market.
Nevertheless, even in the face of the layoffs, California, the Bay Area, and this region’s three primary employment hubs, all managed to gain jobs, albeit at a far more sedate pace than most of this year.
