Bay Area Job Market Slows Amid Economic Resilience, Unemployment Holds Steady in 2026 Forecast
Published: January 16, 2026
Duration: 3:22
The San Francisco Bay Area job market in late 2025 and early 2026 shows slowed growth amid a resilient economy, with nonfarm payrolls averaging just 15,000 monthly jobs in the second half of 2025 after a stronger start, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's SF FedViews report from January 15, 2026. The employment landscape remains tight despite broad-based softening across sectors, buoyed by education and health services adding jobs rapidly, while professional and business services plus technology shed positions, as detailed in Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty's Annual Market Report using 2025 data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment stabilized at 4.4 pe...