Solano County showed continued improvement in employment numbers in April, a trend echoed across the Bay Area which added thousands of positions in the past month.
While the Bay Area gained 4,200 jobs last month, overall, California added 17,700 positions, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday. All numbers were adjusted for seasonal variations. In Solano County, 700 jobs were added in April.
The unemployment rate in Solano County dropped to 4.8 percent in April, down from a revised 5.1 percent in March but above the year-ago estimate of 4.5 percent, the EDD reported.
The report showed the Solano labor force at a 217,600 in April with 207,100 employed and 10,500 unemployed.
In California the unadjusted unemployment rate was 5 percent for the state and 3.9 percent for the nation during the same period.
While Solano’s unemployment rate dropped in the past month it is still higher than the unemployment rates in the other eight Bay Area counties that includes: Alameda, at 4.2 percent; Contra Costa, at 4.3 percent; Marin, at 3.7 percent; Napa, at 3.8 percent; San Francisco, at 3.6 percent; San Mateo, at 3.4 percent; Santa Clara, at 3.8 percent; and Sonoma, at 4.0 percent.
Local employment sectors that saw the larges job growth in Solano County included the retail trades which showed specific growth of 7.1 percent in clothing, clothing accessories, shoe, and jewelry employment. As well as healthcare employment which increased by 3.1 percent.
Fueling the Bay Area upswing in hiring, the South Bay added 2,900 jobs in April. The East Bay gained 800, while the San Francisco-San Mateo area lost 100 jobs, the employment report showed.
The gains in April snapped a three-month losing streak for the Bay Area and California – both lost jobs in January, February and March.
Despite the one-month improvement, job markets in the state and Bay Area continue to wobble in 2025. The Bay Area lost 14,700 jobs and California overall saw 32,300 positions eliminated this year.
California also remains one of the nation’s weakest job markets, in a ranking among the 50 states.
The Mercury News contributed to this report.
