Bay Area rebounds with big job gains in April after losses in March

The Bay Area and California both powered to robust job gains in April, an upswing that suggests the economies in both regions have managed — so far — to offset a steady drumbeat of layoffs in the tech sector.

The gain of 11,200 jobs in the Bay Area in April provided an especially welcome counterpoint to an unsettling loss of 4,400 jobs in the nine-county region during March, according to a report released Friday by state labor officials.

The gains in the Bay Area were led primarily by an increase of 6,400 jobs in the East Bay, along with a gain of 300 jobs in the Santa Clara County region and an increase of 1,600 jobs in the San Francisco-San Mateo metro area. All of the numbers were adjusted for seasonal volatility.

California added 67,000 jobs in April, the state Employment Development Department reported. The Golden State has now added jobs over a stretch of four consecutive months. California’s last employment setback was a loss of 20,200 jobs in December 2022.

Despite the job gains last month in California, the statewide unemployment rate worsened to 4.5% in April, up from 4.4% in March. The job totals and the unemployment rates are derived from two different government surveys and can at times move in contrasting directions.

With its job gains in April, Santa Clara County has now gained jobs for 27 consecutive months. The last time the South Bay lost jobs was in January 2021. However, the gain of 300 positions was the smallest monthly gain during that stretch of more than two years.

The East Bay’s April employment upswing more than offset a loss of 4,900 jobs in March for the Alameda County-Contra Costa County metro region.

The San Francisco-San Mateo County area had suffered losses of 1,000 jobs in February and another 500 in March until achieving the job gains of April.