The Bay Area job market, a long-time engine for California’s economy, has sputtered badly in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, reflecting a profound shift in the fortunes of Silicon Valley.

The slowdown is so pronounced that the region has become a drag on California’s job market. In 2024, job growth in the state ranked only 37th among all others.

Adjusted for seasonal volatility, California job totals in 2024 increased by just 1%, according to data from the Employment Development Department. The Bay Area job market, in the same period, grew 0.2%.

“The Bay Area’s labor market performance over the past year has been among the bottom of the pack in both the state and nation,” said Scott Anderson, BMO Capital Markets chief U.S. economist.

Several factors are behind the sluggish results for the region.

“A high cost of living and doing business, sluggish population growth, and a tech sector revamping for a new AI-driven world are big pieces of that puzzle,” Anderson said.

Before the arrival of COVID-19 in 2020, the job market in the Bay Area hummed at peak performance.

Over a 10-year period that ended in 2019 — the final year before the start of business shutdowns to combat the spread of the deadly virus — the Bay Area job market outpaced California’s by a significant margin.

During that stretch, regional job totals increased by 30.5%, while California’s job market grew by 23.5%, according to figures compiled by the state Employment Development Department.