Pasadena, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/01/2010 -- The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area has seen the first year-on-year jobs growth in September. This is after 23 months of continuous decline. The metro area was able to add 6,700 jobs year over year.

The data comes from a report by the California Employment Development Department. The region’s job growth was also noted in another report from the University of the Pacific in Stockton which found Silicon Valley recovering faster than other parts of Northern California.

The tech-heavy region added 4,500 jobs in September. Although, most of the new jobs were in public schools there were also several new jobs in the tech sector. The major sectors which saw a net expansion over the last 12 months were professional and business services (4,400 jobs), manufacturing (3,100 jobs) and computer systems design (2,200 jobs). Private institutes of higher education also added around 2,000 jobs.

One of the recent big hiring announcements is from Milestone Technologies who wants to hire 75 software developers. The unemployment rate for the San Jose metro area is still 11.2 percent in September, which is the same as in August.

CEO A. Harrison Barnes of InformationTechnologyCrossing is also optimistic about Silicon Valley’s potential. “Silicon Valley still is nowhere near its 2007 peak, but every month a few thousand jobs are being created.

People in IT need to have the latest in demand skills, that’s the key to getting these new jobs.” Barnes’ firm has been able to compile a list of over 8,000 IT jobs in the San Jose metro area this month.