Is the Bay Area losing its luster? Workers move…

Facing competition from cities where it’s cheaper to live, the Bay Area isn’t the talent magnet it used to be, a report released by LinkedIn on Friday shows.

The net number of workers moving to the region dropped 17 percent from February to May. But other cities such as Seattle saw that figure jump 2 percent during that same period.

“(The Bay Area) isn’t quite the El Dorado it might have been three to four years ago when the rest of the country was still struggling to recover from the Great Recession,” said Guy Berger, LinkedIn’s economist.

d482e graphic Is the Bay Area losing its luster? Workers move…In the last 12 months, the San Francisco Bay Area lost the most workers to Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas — cities with lower living costs.

LinkedIn didn’t survey users about why they left, but it’s no secret that the area’s rising housing costs and rent are making some residents think twice about staying here.

In April, the median price for a previously owned single-family home in the nine-county Bay Area region climbed to an all-time high of $800,000, according to real estate information service CoreLogic.

“A lot people are probably hearing that even if you’re getting paid really well in San Francisco a huge chunk of that is going to be for rent or your mortgage,” Berger said.

The Bay Area, though, is still an attractive place to live.

Looking at the number of people who changed their location on their LinkedIn profile in the last 12 months, the tech firm ranked the Bay Area No. 12 on its list of cities that are gaining the most workers. Seattle topped the list, followed by Denver, Austin and Portland.

The Bay Area gained the most workers from New York City, Boston and Chicago, data showed.

In February, the Bay Area was ranked higher at No. 10 on LinkedIn’s list of cities that are gaining the most workers. The region gained 32.1 workers per 10,000 LinkedIn members from December 2016 through January 2017.

“(The Bay Area’s economy) slowed down from red hot to really good,” Berger said.

Bay Area hiring in May was also down 4 percent compared to the same period last year. LinkedIn looked at the percentage of members who changed their employers on their profiles to calculate the hiring rate.

More than 138 million workers in the United States are on LinkedIn. The Bay Area included San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Solano counties.

Article source: http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/06/02/is-the-bay-area-losing-its-luster-workers-move-to-more-affordable-cities/

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