San Diego Employment Holds Steady

SAN DIEGO-San Diego County’s stable employment levels, which contribute to a strong real estate market, are still holding steady, according to two recent reports on the region. Both sources of data, the California Employment Development Department and the UCLA Anderson School of Management, report that the local economy is strong and on track for more positive growth through the end of the year.”The September report is a healthy report,” EDD labor market analyst Cheryl Mason comments on her organization’s recently released data. “I think it reflects a stable job market.” The EDD’s report, which is comprised of preliminary data for San Diego County’s economy during September 2004, states that there was an unemployment rate of 3.8% for that month. The data reveals that out of a total labor force of 1,521,600 people here, 57,200 residents were unemployed, while 1,464,400 were working. These figures reflect a healthy employment level, as the county ranked as having the eighth lowest unemployment rate in the state last month. “I think a lot of San Diego’s strength has been its diversified economy,” Mason tells GlobeSt.com. “We have a strong tourism industry and a strong construction industry,” she explains, adding that the construction sector alone has created 9,700 more jobs than San Diego had in September of last year. She also points to high-tech manufacturing as being stronger than in other areas of California, explaining that “we have firms here that have a commercial side and a defense side to them, so when one side is down, the other side is up. It has allowed us to ride the storm a little bit better than in other areas of the state.”Christopher Thornberg, an economist with the UCLA Anderson School of Market, says that the tech sector has been a key factor in job growth. “San Diego has a good, solid tech sector that continues to drive employment,” he tells GlobeSt.com. Thornberg also believes that the county’s importance as a military center has been keeping the economy strong. “Between the two sectors [tech and military], there has been very positive job growth since the beginning of the year.” And when it comes to payroll employment, “San Diego is on pace to register a 2.3% gain in private-sector payrolls for all of 2004, far above the 0.9% gain recorded for 2003,” according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast, which is comprised of seasonally adjusted versions of available employment data. The report attributes “the bulk of the gains” to the construction, professional services, and education/health-care sectors.