Voice of San Diego: San Diego job growth defies national weakness

San Diego Job Growth Defies National Weakness

Posted: Sunday, July 24, 2011 12:45 pm | Updated: 11:42 am, Mon Jul 25, 2011.
Rich Toscano is a financial advisor with Pacific Capital Associates

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  by Rich Toscano

June's nationwide employment growth was famously dismal, with the entire US economy adding just 18,000 jobs for the month.  Fortunately for us San Diegans, things looked a lot better here at home.

In fact, San Diego County added almost as many jobs as the whole country in June — 16,300, to be exact.  This is according to the latest Employment Development Department estimates (which, it's important to note, are subject to pretty big revisions).

The graph below shows San Diego employment over the past several years.  Those 16,300 new local jobs amount to a year-over-year increase of 1.3 percent — a fairly healthy pace, especially considering the stagnation gripping the nation as a whole.

Once again, the non-housing-bubble-related private sector was the champ, offsetting declines in both the bubble sectors (the combination of construction, finance, and retail) and government employment.  The non-bubble private sector rose by 2.8 percent and was responsible for adding 20,600 jobs to the economy since last June.

The all-important seasonally adjusted employment series, which takes account of the often substantial seasonal influences on the job market, also rose in June:

July is one of the months that typically sees a big seasonal influence, so next month we will really want to focus on that seasonally adjusted number.

Here's a long-term look at seasonally adjusted employment:

While firmly trending in the right direction, San Diego employment is still 5.8 percent below the peak level achieved in mid-2007.