The unemployment rate in San Diego has steadily decreased over the past year to the current rate of 6.7 percent, which is well below the year-ago estimate of 8.8 percent. San Diego’s unemployment is also below that of California (8.1 percent) and the rest of the nation which is sitting at 7.3 percent.
In May, the sectors that provided the largest contributions to job growth in the region were leisure and hospitality, trade, transportation, and utilities. Remarkably, accommodation and food services supplied about 91 percent of the job growth in the leisure and hospitality sector with an increase of 3,000 jobs. In the past month, total nonfarm employment increased by 6,000 jobs with only three sectors recording job losses (that totaled 600 jobs).
Between May 2012 and May 2013, professional and business services recorded the greatest gain, adding 5,600 jobs to the total nonfarm employment increase of 20,300 jobs over the past year. Administrative and support and waste services accounted for more than 60 percent of the job growth in this particular sector. Of the other seven sectors that demonstrated job gains over the year, the most significant growth came from education and health services as well as leisure and hospitality.
*Photography by Bauman Photographers, San Diego, CA.