San Diego County sees slight drop in unemployment

SAN DIEGO ( FOX 5/KUSI ) — San Diego County’s unemployment rate saw a slight decline in September, dropping to 4.6% from a revised 5.1% in August, according to figures released by the state Employment Development Department on Friday.

“I’d say it’s a fair number. We’re doing better than the rest of the state of California, but we’re doing worse than the rest of the country,” according to Alan Gin, professor of economics at the University of San Diego’s Knauss School of Business.

Driving the change is the addition of 4,700 jobs primarily in the government and education sectors. “What we have going on in September is some seasonality. So, what we have is a lot of people going back to school,” explained Gin. He added that the health services industry also saw job gains, a trend he anticipates will continue for the foreseeable future due to the aging population.

Jacqueline Young is a junior at the University of San Diego (USD) and is majoring in international business and minoring in Chinese. Building her career skills is her top priority, but also juggles part-time work at a cafe.

“It’s great to have a job where I can make extra money that’s not too stressful and doesn’t get in the way of school,” shared Young. However, the latest data isn’t appetizing for her industry.

“We had a decline in leisure and hospitality, so that’s the restaurant hotel industry as the summer tourism season is winding down,” according to Gin.

Another sector that saw a decline was construction. “We have a housing shortage here in San Diego, so you’d like to see more construction activity, and one thing that’s held back construction activity in the past is lack of skilled workers in construction,” added Gin.

While inflation in San Diego County was 2.5% in September, the lowest since January 2021, the prices of essential goods are high enough for people to still feel the pinch. “Top expenses are definitely groceries,” explained Young.

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