\u201cIt\u2019s nice to finally see a jobs report for the region that has employment gains,\u201d said Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. \u201cMuch of the region\u2019s struggle has been linked to downsizing in tech firms and other knowledge-based sectors. Our hope is that much of this downsizing has run its course.\u201d<\/p>\n
California added 32,500 jobs in November after gaining 1,500 jobs the previous month, the federal agency reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bay Area and California economies showed encouraging signs of labor market stabilization in November,\u201d said Scott Anderson, chief U.S. economist for BMO Capital Markets.<\/p>\n
The statewide unemployment rate was 5.5% in November, down from 5.6% in September. The government didn\u2019t report an October rate due to the timing of the federal shutdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cA convincing return to net job growth and the first tick down in the state unemployment rate since March provided some tangible reasons for optimism,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n
California still has the nation\u2019s highest unemployment rate and is only one of five states with a rate of 5% or higher. New Jersey has the next-highest at 5.4%.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SJM-L-BAYJOBS-0108-90.jpg\")
The South Bay gained 400 jobs in November, an upswing that ended four consecutive months of job losses.<\/p>\n
The East Bay added 2,400 jobs in November, marking the third straight month of surging employment. The region had lost jobs for four straight months from May through August of 2025.<\/p>\n
The San Francisco-San Mateo region gained 2,700 jobs in November on the heels of an increase of 1,100 positions in October. But the job market picture may not be as rosy as it appears.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe job gains are certainly better than more losses, but are less than they seem if the California data is an indicator for the Bay Area,\u201d said Steve Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. \u201cAt the state level, nearly 90% of the November gains were in health care, leisure and hospitality, and government. The manufacturing sector lost jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some upcoming turbulence outside of the control of California\u2019s employers could pose problems ahead, Levy warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe federal freeze on funding for social services and the expected news about the state deficit should temper any enthusiasm,\u201d Levy said.<\/p>\n
Despite gains in November, the first 11 months of 2025 were dismal for the Bay Area and California. From January through November, California lost 7,500 jobs while the Bay Area shed 21,300.<\/p>\n
The three largest urban sectors in the Bay Area also suffered a sour January-through-November job market \u2013 the South Bay shed 9,200 jobs, the East Bay lost 6,600, and the San Francisco-San Mateo region suffered a decline of 3,300.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would need to see a string of improved monthly job growth numbers to materially lift our 2026 economic outlook for California and the Bay Area,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n
The Bay Area\u2019s decades-long role as the primary engine of California\u2019s economy appears to have dwindled, warned Michael Bernick, an employment attorney with law firm Duane Morris and a former director of California\u2019s labor agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor most of the time since the early 2000s, the Bay Area has powered the state\u2019s job growth, with an outsized number of the new jobs,\u201d Bernick said. \u201cIn the post-pandemic period, the Bay Area\u2019s job contribution has decreased.\u201d<\/p>\n
This unsettling pattern for the Bay Area emerged again during November, according to Bernick.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bay Area, with 3.9 million jobs, has around 21% of the state\u2019s total,\u201d Bernick said. \u201cYet, in November, the Bay Area contributed only 13.7% of the state job gains.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. job market is growing three times faster than California\u2019s employment sector. Over the one-year period that ended in November, nonfarm payroll job totals grew 0.6% in the nation but only by 0.2% in California.<\/p>\n
Job totals fell 0.5% in the Bay Area and the East Bay, declined by 0.7% in the South Bay, and dropped 0.4% in the San Francisco-San Mateo region over the yearlong period ending in November.<\/p>\n
But Russell Hancock, president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a San Jose-based think tank, says the newest numbers are a good sign.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bay Area is basically a cocktail of multiple interacting forces, which is keeping our economy stationary right now and for the foreseeable future,\u201d Hancock said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with that. It beats the alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tech industry remains in a cautious state and appears reluctant to hire workers, a sharp contrast to the growth after the COVID-19 pandemic fueled demand for tech services to enable remote work.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the front end of 2025, folks were still right-sizing after the pandemic, at which point our major employers shifted into efficiency mode,\u201d Hancock said.<\/p>\n
Tech companies also began to chase potential opportunities arising from cutting-edge industries.<\/p>\n
\u201cInto all of that you introduce artificial intelligence, which adds jobs in one place and subtracts them from another,\u201d Hancock said. \u201cAI is growing and is creating opportunity and profitability, but it looks to be a wash on the job front.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite short-term gains for the Bay Area, Bellisario warned the region still faces nagging woes that remain unsolved.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne month is far from a trend,\u201d Bellisario said. \u201cThe high costs of doing business in the Bay Area and limited regional population growth remain unchanged. Both act as a cap on our potential for growth going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bay Area and California both had robust job gains in November 2025 that represented rebounds from months…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":500213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[15172,40824,15173,18412,64,276,16055,99768,49397,15174,15175,99769,79,12463,116028,116031,420,2765,1370,224519,1583,15177,50,1585,24197,15178,20909,6270,16972,15180,21600,15181,116040,55734,15182,15184,15185,15186,116043,158,99770,67,132,68,99771],"class_list":{"0":"post-500212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-alameda-county","9":"tag-antioch","10":"tag-bay-area","11":"tag-berkeley","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-california","14":"tag-california-news","15":"tag-central-contra-costa","16":"tag-concord","17":"tag-contra-costa-county","18":"tag-east-bay","19":"tag-east-contra-costa","20":"tag-economy","21":"tag-editors-picks","22":"tag-fremont","23":"tag-hayward","24":"tag-jobs","25":"tag-keywee","26":"tag-latest-headlines","27":"tag-livermore","28":"tag-marin-county","29":"tag-napa-county","30":"tag-news","31":"tag-north-bay","32":"tag-oakland","33":"tag-peninsula","34":"tag-pm-report","35":"tag-retail","36":"tag-richmond","37":"tag-san-francisco-county","38":"tag-san-jose","39":"tag-san-mateo-county","40":"tag-san-ramon","41":"tag-santa-clara","42":"tag-santa-clara-county","43":"tag-solano-county","44":"tag-sonoma-county","45":"tag-south-bay","46":"tag-sunnyvale","47":"tag-technology","48":"tag-tri-valley","49":"tag-united-states","50":"tag-unitedstates","51":"tag-us","52":"tag-west-contra-costa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}