Bay Area defies national trend as unemployment holds steady
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The Financial District of San Francisco. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Bay Area's unemployment rate in December largely remained the same compared with December 2023, new federal data shows. Some metros even saw slight downticks.
Why it matters: The Bay Area has sustained multiple waves of layoffs over the past year — the most recent of which impacted workers at Meta, Workday and Cruise.
Driving the news: The unemployment rate in December 2024 was higher in 266 of 389 metro areas compared with December 2023, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
- Several Bay Area metros bucked that trend, however.
Zoom in: The San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward metro area's unemployment rate in December held steady year over year at 4%.
- That translates to over 100,500 unemployed people last December.
- Meanwhile, the San José-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area's unemployment rate ticked down slightly from 4% in December 2023 to 3.9% in December 2024.
Between the lines: While concern about the tech sector's layoffs are warranted, industries including health care have picked up their pace of hiring in the Bay and were "able to catch up," economist Chris Thornberg said in an appearance on the "Bond Buyer Podcast" earlier this month.
Yes, but: Trade wars, AI, fiscal policy and more could throw a wrench in that.
The big picture: Nearly 70% of metros ended 2024 with higher unemployment compared with how they began the year.
- Unemployment dropped in 95 metros and held steady in 28 others.
- Dalton, Georgia (+3.5 percentage points); Asheville, North Carolina (+2.6); and Muskegon, Michigan (+2.1), had the biggest increases in metro-level unemployment.
- Kahului, Hawai'i (-2.2); Waterbury, Connecticut (-1.7); and Bridgeport, Connecticut (-1.4), had the largest decreases.
Caveat: These figures are not seasonally adjusted.
What to watch: The U.S. added 143,000 jobs in January, the latest national-level jobs data shows. The unemployment rate also dropped to 4%.
What's next: Metro-level unemployment data for January is due out early next month.