A hiring boom fueled big Bay Area job gains in July, a surge powered by Santa Clara County, which last month reached an economic milestone: The South Bay has regained all the jobs it lost at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Bay Area added 20,400 jobs during July, while Santa Clara County added 7,000 jobs to lead the nine-county region, followed closely by the San Francisco-San Mateo area’s gain of 6,700 jobs and the East Bay’s increase of 4,500 positions, according to a report released by the state Employment Development Department.
California added 84,800 jobs in July, the most the state has added in a single month since February of this year, the EDD reported. All the numbers were adjusted for seasonal volatility.
The statewide unemployment rate in July improved to 3.9%, a record low for the jobless figure and an improvement from the 4.2% rate set in June.
With the July job gains, Santa Clara County has gained 1,000 more jobs than it lost during March 2020 and April 2020, two months of historic job losses at the start of coronavirus-linked business shutdowns ordered by the government to combat the spread of the deadly virus, this news organization’s analysis of the EDD figures shows.
During those two months, the South Bay lost a jaw-dropping 153,500 jobs. But from May 2020 through July 2022, the South Bay gained 154,600 jobs, the EDD reports reveal.
The Bay Area, the East Bay, the San Francisco-San Mateo region and California, are all still running COVID-linked job deficits. The Bay Area has regained 88% of its lost jobs, San Francisco-San Mateo has recovered 89.3%, and the East Bay is at the 89.9% recovery mark. California has regained 97.3% of its lost jobs.
