Bay Area job market soars to big gains in December, defies COVID surge

The Bay Area job market soared to big gains in December, ending 2021 on a bright note despite fresh economic uncertainties unleashed by the omicron variant of the coronavirus, state officials reported Friday.

The statewide unemployment rate improved to 6.5% in December, down from 7% in November, the EDD reported. That’s the lowest it has been since March 2020 at the start of the pandemic. “California continues to move in the right direction, with the Bay Area playing an outsized role,” said Michael Bernick, an employment attorney with law firm Duane Morris and a former director of the state EDD.

Job totals in the Bay Area increased 5.9% in 2021, just shy of California’s 6 percent growth. In contrast, the nation reported a 4.5 percent gain during the same one-year period. Adding to the encouraging trends, the EDD reported that November’s revised job numbers were substantially better than the lackluster initial report the agency delivered.

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