Competition for jobs has skyrocketed, but latest numbers show some hope.

Although unemployment is high, Silicon Valley has been helped by tech industry that has kept hiring

There are 11.4 people searching for work for every job opening in the San Francisco metro area, more than eight times the level of competition at the start of the year when the Bay Area boasted one of the hottest economies in the world. But an increase in job openings in August offers some hope that the region’s economy, which is faring better than the rest of the state, could be rebounding from the worst of the crisis.

In January, there were 1.4 job seekers for every opening in the San Francisco metro, which includes San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties, according to data from Adzuna, a job search website. By April, that jumped to 11.7 job seekers per opening as coronavirus lockdown orders took effect and unemployment rose. It peaked at 18.3 seekers per opening in June.

In the San Jose metro, which includes Santa Clara and San Benito counties, there were 1.3 job seekers per opening in January, jumping to 8.9 in April and peaking at 10.5 in June. By August, there were 6 job seekers per opening, a slightly lower rate of competition than the statewide rate of 6.6 people per opening. San Jose’s relative strength could be due to its bigger reliance on technology giants, who have so far seen their stock values skyrocket during the pandemic and have for the most part continued hiring.

“I think tech is protecting Silicon Valley and that’s reflected in the booming stock market,” said Adzuna co-founder Andrew Hunt. “How long that will last for, your guess is as good as mine.”

The types of jobs in high demand have also changed recently. Two industries, healthcare and warehousing and logistics — which includes home delivery services like Uber Eats and online shopping like Amazon warehouses — are hiring more people than they were six months ago.

“If you look at the Oakland and Hayward area, the kinds of roles that you have in those areas are

quite different than elsewhere in the Bay Area,” he said. “A lot of manufacturing-related jobs are in hot demand.”

Hiring is also strongest among lower-paying jobs, with companies holding off on filling top executive roles and other highpaying positions, Hunt said. Job openings between April and August 2019 had an average salary of about $120,700 in the San Francisco metro and $122,700 in the San Jose metro. But during the same time period this year, those figures plummeted. San Francisco metro jobs had an average salary of $83,500 while San Jose metro jobs had an average of $63,800.

That data comes from an analysis of more than 4 million job postings in the U. S. analyzed by UKba sed Ad zuna , which does job opening analysis internationally and provides research to the British government and the Bank of England.

There is one positive sign in the new numbers. The roughly 24,400 job openings in San Francisco and 16,700 job openings in San Jose in August are an increase of 42 percent and 54 percent, respectively, from July. Both are still down significantly compared to January numbers, when employers were looking to hire some 74,600 people throughout the two metros. Never theless, it helps explain why the Bay Area’s pandemic unemployment rate remains far lower than the statewide average. Last month, the Bay Area accounted for nearly 30 percent of all jobs created in California even though it has only 19 percent of the population.