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San Jose-metro trade and transport jobs, September 2026

economy
employment
Published

October 27, 2026

Trade, transportation and utilities payroll employment in the San Jose metro, thousands of jobs, NSA, 1990 to September 2026: from 127k to a peak of 158k in December 2000, now 117k.

Trade, transportation and utilities as a percent of all San Jose-metro payroll jobs, NSA, 1990 to September 2026: from 15.6% to 9.9%, with a high of 16.3% in December 1991.

San Jose-metro trade, transportation and utilities employers had 117,100 people on payroll in September 2026, up 0.9% from a year earlier. That is 9.9% of all payroll jobs in the metro, against 10.0% a year before.

The broadest supersector in the survey: wholesale and retail trade, warehousing, trucking, air and water transport, couriers and utilities.

The two charts answer different questions. The count peaked at 158,500 in December 2000 and says whether the sector is hiring. The share — from 15.6% in January 1990, with a high of 16.3% in December 1991 and a low of 9.9% in May 2026 — says whether it is growing faster or slower than the rest of the economy.

Not seasonally adjusted, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. The share is computed at read time from two series in the same BLS release, so it stays consistent when the levels are revised.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, State & Area Employment, trade, transportation and utilities and total nonfarm payrolls, San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara MSA, not seasonally adjusted, via FRED (SANJ906TRADN, SANJ906NAN). The share is derived at read time. Auto-generated each build.