San Francisco tech employment falls to 2019 levels as AI hiring fails to offset broader layoffs

Employment in San Francisco and San Mateo County's tech and professional services sectors has dropped to its lowest point since 2019, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data analyzed by Wolf Street. The Information sector shed 28,900 jobs since August 2022, a 22% decline. Professional, scientific and technical services lost 35,500 jobs since June 2022, a 13.2% drop. Financial services employment hit its lowest level since 2014. Wolf Street argues that while AI-related companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have hired aggressively with high salaries, this represents too few jobs to offset massive layoffs across the broader tech industry. The region's economy has grown increasingly dependent on what the outlet calls "ridiculously unsustainable AI magic-money."