North Bay jobless rates fall in September, but the labor force keeps shrinking
Unemployment fell in Napa, Marin, Sonoma and Solano counties in September, according to preliminary state figures released Friday, but every county also had fewer people working or looking for work than a year earlier, and economists warned that a shrinking labor force could make hiring harder.
SANTA ROSA: Unemployment rates declined across the North Bay in September, but fewer residents were working or looking for jobs than a year earlier, according to preliminary figures released Friday by the California Employment Development Department and reported by the North Bay Business Journal.
Napa County retained the North Bay's lowest unemployment rate at 4.2 percent, the fourth lowest among California's 58 counties, the Business Journal reported. Marin and Sonoma counties tied for sixth at 4.3 percent, and Solano County stood at 5.3 percent, ranked 26th. Every rate improved from August, when Napa posted 4.3 percent, Marin 4.4 percent, Sonoma 4.5 percent and Solano 5.5 percent.
The state figures, which are not seasonally adjusted at the county level, put Sonoma County's labor force at 247,200, with 236,500 residents employed. Solano County's labor force was 218,900, with 207,300 employed, followed by Marin County at 123,400 and 118,100, and Napa County at 74,300 and 71,200, according to the Employment Development Department.
Fewer workers than a year ago
Measured against September 2025, each county's labor force and resident employment shrank, the Business Journal reported. Sonoma County's labor force fell 1.7 percent over the year and its resident employment fell 1.5 percent. Solano County's labor force also fell 1.7 percent, with employment down 1.5 percent, and Marin County's labor force fell 1.7 percent, with employment down 1.4 percent. Napa County's labor force declined 0.9 percent and its employment fell 0.8 percent. Both measures rose from August in all four counties.
Across the six counties the Business Journal groups as the North Bay, the combined labor force fell by 11,250 people, or 1.5 percent, from September 2025, while the number of employed residents declined by 9,230, or 1.3 percent. The figures extend a trend Sonoma State University economist Robert Eyler has been watching for months, the Business Journal reported.
"There's not a whole lot of new dynamics happening, at least year to year," Eyler said Friday. He said the shrinking workforce could reflect retirements among an aging population, changes in immigration and migration, or revisions to preliminary estimates, but that the speed of the decline remains puzzling. "What's concerning to me is what's going on with (the) labor force and how much exposure there is there, what the numbers mean, and if they're going to flatten out or they're going to keep on descending," Eyler said.
Health care carries the payroll gains
Employer payrolls still grew over the year in all four counties, the Business Journal reported. Sonoma and Solano counties each added 1,300 jobs, up 0.6 percent and 0.9 percent respectively, while Napa County added 1,000 jobs, up 1.2 percent, and Marin County added 500, up 0.4 percent. Private education and health services added jobs in every county, including 1,300 in Sonoma, 1,100 in Solano, 700 in Marin and 200 in Napa.
The county details diverged. Napa County gained 700 farm jobs, up 12.1 percent, and 400 leisure and hospitality positions, while beverage and tobacco product manufacturing, which includes wineries, declined by 300 jobs, or 2.4 percent. Sonoma County added 500 leisure and hospitality jobs and 400 in trade, transportation and utilities, but lost 400 manufacturing jobs and 300 in construction. Solano County gained 600 professional and business services jobs, up 5.5 percent, and 1,400 in health care and social assistance, while manufacturing and construction each lost 300 positions. In Marin County, the 700-job gain in private education and health services offset losses in information, construction, financial activities and trade-related employment.
Statewide, California's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held at 5.1 percent in September, down from 5.5 percent a year earlier, according to the Employment Development Department. The state lost 9,300 nonfarm payroll jobs in September but gained 129,300 jobs, or 0.72 percent, over the year. Private education and health services added 125,600 jobs statewide over the year.
Eyler expects health care to remain a leading source of North Bay employment growth for approximately five years, and he questioned whether expanding health care employers could make it harder for manufacturing, technology and other industries to recruit from an increasingly constrained workforce.
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