The Bay Area Council Economic Institute is a leading think tank focused on the economic and policy issues facing the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area region. It is the research arm of the Bay Area Council, a nonpartisan business organization based in San Francisco. Since 1990, the Institute has produced economic policy analyses on Bay Area and California issues, and economic impact analyses for public and private sector clients. Last year the Institute began publishing Insights: Bay Watch, a business and policy resource that provides a short analysis of different aspects of the Bay Area economy every week.

Bay Watch reported in May that the region showed strong job gains in April. "In March 2023, the Bay Area's two-year growth streak came to an end when the region lost 4,400 jobs, which many saw as the first impacts of reported tech layoffs across the region," Bay Watch noted. "However, the region added 11,000 jobs in April, a surprising reversal that defies the tech layoffs and bank failures that had characterized the first quarter of the year. Sectors other than tech are continuing to create new jobs, and the region seems to be entering a phase of the economic cycle where inflation is moving back toward a reasonable range and high interest rates have become normalized."

Also in May, Bay Watch covered new 2020 Census data that highlights an increasingly diverse Bay Area population. "Notably, the combined numbers for Latinx (24.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (28.5%) residents now make up a majority of the region's population." Analysis of venture capital trends, business openings and closings, and the state of specific industries are among the topics covered. Each month Bay Watch also publishes a jobs update for the region, as well as a Bay Area Monthly Transit and Traffic Monthly Tracker that "compiles data from the region's seven state-owned toll bridges, as well as ridership data from BART, Caltrain, Muni, WETA, and the Golden Gate Ferry, to better understand how transit agencies are faring compared to bridge crossings."

The Institute publishes a wealth of business and economic research. Recently, for example, it partnered with the Tech Insights Center of commercial real estate services and investment company CBRE on a three-year, three-part series of interactive reports evaluating and tracking key indicators of economic recovery in the Bay Area. The first part of the report tracks jobs, people, investment, economic activity, and affordability. These factors are measured by an economic index tracking recovery across the nation's 25 largest economic regions and a deeper dive into our region's economic recovery, according to officials.

"The region fully recovered its pre-pandemic jobs in January 2023, but recovery was short lived as the impacts of tech layoffs began to emerge in March 2023," the report notes. "Our region still lags behind peer metros, largely due to a slow-to-recover service sector." The quarterly report, published on May 4, 2023, will be updated next on July 11.

"Despite challenges, the Bay Area will come back strong," Jeff Bellisario, Executive Director, told attendees at a business event in March, according to the North Bay Business Journal. "People here know how to innovate their way out of the current problems. I believe we can, and will grow again and regain our creative edge. There are a lot of smart people in this region and a ton of money for investment as well as excess savings to get us through. Another wave of job growth is also over the horizon."

For more information about the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, please visit www.bayareaeconomy.org.

For more information about the Bay Area Council, please visit www.bayareacouncil.org.

To read Insights: Bay Watch, please visit www.bayareaeconomy.org/insights.

To track the region's economic recovery, please visit www.bayareaeconomy.org/economic-recovery

Photo by Emily Hoehenrieder on Unsplash