The economic storms linked to housing have arrived in the East Bay and washed away hundreds of construction, real estate and finance jobs, although the area's overall job market remained strong in February.

During the past year, the East Bay added 15,400 new jobs, according to a report released Friday by the state's Employment Development Department. The EDD also said that, adjusted for seasonal changes, the East Bay added 800 jobs during February.

Yet some housing-spawned weaknesses have begun to loom over the East Bay's economic landscape. A Times analysis of the EDD figures showed that several industries tied directly or indirectly to housing lost jobs during the year that ended in February.

It was only a matter of time before the housing woes began to hammer the East Bay job market in a noticeable way, analysts have said. And the difficulties could persist, said Dan Hamilton, an economist with the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project.

Yet it is possible that the East Bay's economic diversity could help the region extricate itself from the housing malaise. Such a scenario would mirror the region's escape from the dot-com meltdown that engulfed the South Bay and San Francisco-San Mateo areas and erased hundreds of thousands of jobs.

"Growth is pretty solid, pretty strong," said Kerry Kiley, regional operations manager with Adecco, a staffing services firm. "With unemployment so low, it's a little more challenging to find excellent candidates that top-notch companies want to hire."

Financial and business services, health services, and hospitality services are especially hot and demanding of new workers. And even the troubled I.T. (information technology) sector has rebounded, she said.

Delia Hom of Oakland has been working for the past three months on a contract basis with the Pleasanton office of Liberty Mutual. Hom recently was told she would get a full-time job as a clerical worker in the insurance underwriting department.

Spherion, another staffing company, reported that its employee confidence index rose in February compared with January, according to Beth Noseworthy, a Spherion vice president overseeing Northern California.

Professional, business and technical services were up 3,800 jobs during the year; health care was up 2,800; food services and drinking establishments gained 1,600; administrative and support services rose 1,400; and manufacturing gained 1,400.

Plus, the pace of the East Bay's job gains matched California's during the year that ended in February. Both regions expanded their job base by 1.5 percent.

"The housing problems will slow the economy a little bit," Hamilton said. "But the economy will not tank as a result of the real estate weakness."

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