SAN DIEGO—With more seasoned employees in the workplace than ever before and the ocean industry at our doorstep, San Diego must chart a new course and grab onto these opportunities, said speakers at Thursday's economic roundtable here. The latter part of the program focused on the aging population and San Diego's status as a major BlueTech—or ocean- and water-related—market.
Erik Bruvold, interim CEO for the North County Economic Development Corp., said there will be an explosion of people aged 70 and older by 2050, thanks to drivers like better healthcare adding to longevity and the fact that the market is still digesting the Baby Boomer generation and its children.
Bruvold also pointed out that that 27% of San Diego County's population will be 60-plus by 2050. As a result, we will se an expansion of people working in healthcare in our region. The question these facts raise is: Can we continue to have the same efficiency in our healthcare system as we age? It's unclear if we will have a sustainable system.
Also, as the population becomes older, we need to think more about land uses, such as allocating less to education and more to senior housing and healthcare.
The good news in all this is that retirement income can bring new dollars into a region from things like Medicare and retirement income, which work like core industries, said Bruvold. “Consumption tends to go up in the last decade of life since individuals are no longer saving.”
In addition, older workers will change the workplace since people will be retiring later. Bruvold said the number of people aged 75 and older in the workforce has doubled since 1988, so we need to provide for continued learning and training of these older workers so they can continue to contribute to the economy. We've off-loaded training to employees, but older workers need more training to continue to be valuable, and that may not come from other employees. “We need to provide meaningful work experiences for older adults.”
Lastly, Bruvold said that much of the caregiving for those 75 and older is being done by these seniors' children, which can be a strain on the workforce. “We need support services so they don't have to exit the labor force to care for an elderly parent. This will be an increasing challenge for San Diego moving forward. Our economic growth could suffer if we don't provide this.”
Another opportunity for San Diego's economy is BlueTech, a new term for many. Michael Jones, founder and president of the Maritime Alliance, said his organization is bullish on BlueTech in 2018. This encompasses the ocean industry and ocean technology, which is a fast-growing area with amazing opportunity, and water/wastewater technology. All of these are part of the blue economy, which contributes to our food, water, ocean energy, medicine and even real estate.
Jones said BlueTech is “in San Diego's DNA,” thanks to its location, and San Diego is one of the largest BlueTech centers in the world. “We need to create entrepreneurs, a [San Diego]-educated workforce and more financing for this industry.”
Part of the problem is that BlueTech is not a household name, so creating a Blue Voice is part of the mission. But the true mission of BlueTech is to promote sustainable, science-based ocean and water industries.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
