San Diego County’s jobless rate fell in early fall as teachers and support staff returned to school and offset big losses in tourism and professional services.
The region’s unemployment rate was 4.9% in September, state labor officials said Friday, down from 5% the previous month and an annual high of 5.2% in July. Jobs data was heavily delayed because of the federal government shutdown.
San Diego County’s jobless rate was lower than California’s average of 5.6%, but higher than the nation at 4.3%. When adjusted for seasonal swings, the U.S. rate was 4.4%, and California’s rate remained the same at 5.6%.
It’s unclear what happened in the job market after September because reports covering the rest of the year are expected to be delayed for some time. Lack of data almost became a sticking point at a Wednesday meeting of the Federal Reserve, with some officials wanting to wait on an interest rate decision until more figures were available. Ultimately, the Fed cut borrowing costs.
In San Diego County, September followed usual patterns: Educators and support staff returned to schools and universities, while the leisure and hospitality sector cut positions at the end of the busy summer tourism season.
What was different was the high-paying professional and business services sector slashing 2,800 jobs from August to September. Work in the category includes scientific research, engineering, legal services, architecture and software development. The sector had lost 6,500 jobs in a year as of September.
“Those categories are important because they are among the higher paying,” said Alan Gin, economist at the University of San Diego. “That’s not good for the economy overall. Those (workers) are the ones who can afford houses, buy cars, go out and eat, and do other things that support the local economy.”
He said the jobs lost tend to be middle- to upper-class positions. That’s different from other affluent people who might have inherited wealth, Gin said, but working people who keep the San Diego economic engine going.
The biggest monthly job losses were in leisure and hospitality (hotels, casinos, bars and restaurants), down by 3,800 positions; trade, transportation and utilities (mostly retail), down by 1,000; construction, down by 800; other services (laundry, maintenance, religious), down by 700; and manufacturing, down by 500.
Job gains were in government, almost all tied to education, with 8,600 added jobs, and private education and health services (nursing, social assistance, private schools and universities), with 1,300 positions.
Local unemployment data is tied to federal figures, which have been under scrutiny for months. President Donald Trump fired the head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in early August after weaker-than-expected job numbers. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said this week that Fed staffers believe the federal labor officials’ statistical model could be overestimating job creation by up to 60,000 jobs a month.
Job data is expected to pick up, with the next report for October and November coming in roughly three weeks. Other data for San Diego County — inflation, wage changes and gross domestic product — will likely be delayed until February.
The position with the most job openings in October (updated more quickly than the jobless rate) in San Diego County was retail salespersons, with 1,890 ads, according to state data that aggregates job postings during the month. It was followed by registered nurses, 1,530, first-line supervisors of retail sales workers with 971, and home health and personal care aides with 897.
Employers with the most job ads were UC San Diego, Apple, General Atomics, Qualcomm, Sharp Healthcare and Intuit.
On an annual basis, the biggest growth area for San Diego County has been private education and health services with 12,900 new jobs. It was followed by government, up by 8,000; leisure and hospitality, with 2,500; and other services, with 600.
All other categories lost jobs year-over-year: Professional and business services, down by 6,500; manufacturing, down 2,600; financial activities, down 1,400; trade, transportation and utilities, down by 900; information (telecommunications, newspapers, publishing industry), down 800; and construction, down 500.
State officials do not seasonally adjust jobless rates for individual counties. Compared with other parts of California, San Diego County was in the middle of the pack with its unadjusted rate of 4.9%.
The unemployment rate was 5.9% in Los Angeles County, 4.4% in Orange County, 4.2% in San Francisco County, 4.5% in Santa Clara County, 5.4% in Santa Cruz County and 6.1% in Riverside County.