If you are among the 2,254,000 Californians, or the 584,300 folks in Los Angeles County, or the 147,000 Orange County residents, who are looking for a job, a new report on jobs might provide some ideas. This survey, dubbed the CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index, which measures managerial recruitment activity online, lost some ground in January, But not all the news is bad. In fact, according to the survey, San Francisco ranks third nationally.

While the national index dropped 3.1 points to 70.8 in January from 73.9 in December, the San Francisco Bay area and the San Diego region had gains. The hard hit Riverside area, which has the worse per capita job offerings of all thirty major metropolitan areas measured by the survey, was unchanged from December.

Among the four major California cities tracked by the survey, Los Angeles was the only area where the hiring per capita declined in December. The index for LA fell by 2 points, or 6%. The per capita hiring opportunities in Los Angeles still are nearly three times better than those in Riverside. But, the chances in San Francisco are more than twice as good as in Los Angeles.

San Francisco tied with Baltimore for the largest overall gain (+6 points) this month. Other cities showing an improvement in hiring this month include Nashville (+3 points), Indianapolis (+3 points) and Louisville (+2 points).

“The January Index is up 9.1 points from a year ago, which is good news given that it averaged more than 30 points below 2008’s numbers throughout 2009,” explains Jay Martin, COO, JobSerf. “The Index has been relatively stable since the early Fall, but does not seem to be able to make progress from its current plateau.”

Pittsburgh’s hiring per capita decreased the most in January (-13), followed by Boston (-9), Atlanta (-8), Washington, D.C. (-6), Cleveland (-5), and New York City (-5).

While Washington, D.C. and Boston saw a drop in hiring activity, they still remain at the top of the Index (ranked 1st and 2nd, respectively). San Francisco came in third nationally and San Diego squeezed into the top ten at the number 10 slot.

With Washington, D.C. at the top and Riverside at the bottom, according to the survey, there are about 10 times as many job postings on a per capita basis in the nations capitol as there are in Riverside. San Francisco has about 56% of the per capita jobs as Washington and by the time you drop down to the number 10 slot, San Diego has only about 34% of the per capita jobs as the number one ranked Washington, D.C.

“Overall, the Index has been fairly stable for the past 5 months,” says Tony Lee, publisher, CareerCast.com. “The first few months of 2010 should give us a good indication of whether a real hiring rebound will take hold this year.”

The CareerCast.com/JobSerf Employment Index shows the change in managerial job openings posted online nationally. The Index reveals the differences in job listings by month, and includes trends and forecasts using proprietary employment data hand-counted by a team of researchers.

Click here to read the full report or for more information.