Bay Watch: A Weekly Look into the Bay Area Economy
August 21st, 2024
Bay Area lost 3,400 jobs in July
The region continued its overall job loss last month, losing 3,400 jobs in July, 3,200 more than June’s loss of 200 jobs. This slowdown poses a stark divergence from the region’s significant job surge of 6,300 jobs in May. The job market’s uneven performance early in the year was characterized by net job losses between January and April, and can now be attributed to a wave of layoffs in key sectors such as tech and biotech. Silicon Valley, in particular, has seen significant cuts, driven by companies in the internet and biotech industries, which are responding to economic pressures and shifting market demands.
Total employment in the Bay Area remains 1.4% below pre-pandemic levels, with little growth or movement since the start of the year. Meanwhile, national and statewide employment levels have surpassed pre-pandemic figures by approximately 4.2% and 2.3% respectively.
The economic recovery of the Bay Area continues to be dominated by a strong rise in education, government, and leisure job gains, with education seeing strong gains since pandemic related losses began over four years ago. In fact, the education and health sector (which includes which includes all private sector teachers, nurses, and other medical professionals) still stands at 58,600 jobs above pre-pandemic levels, with manufacturing also posting gains since February 2020. However, when you compare the latest job numbers to July 2023, manufacturing is still down 11,800 jobs. Retail trade continues to be the slowest to recover sector in the region, still down 25,300 jobs since February 2020, with a meager gain of 2,000 jobs over the last 12 months.