Name: Nearly 1 in 4 San Diegans unemployed because of pandemic, analysis says
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Nearly 1 in 4 San Diegans unemployed because of pandemic, analysis says

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Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement San Diego County’s unemployment rate was an estimated 24.7 percent by the third week in April, said a new analysis, more than double the worst jobless rate of the Great Recession. The San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG, produced the estimate using the federal and statewide number of unemployment applications, and looking at what types of jobs have been lost. It then applied the figures to jobs data in San Diego County. SANDAG estimates nearly one in four San Diegans, about 430,000 people, are unemployed.During the Great Recession and the years that followed, jobless numbers were substantially lower than the new estimate. The highest unemployment climbed, in January and July 2010, was 11.1 percent, said data from the state Employment Development Department. SANDAG’s report is an early estimate of just how severe job losses have been as a result of COVID-19. State labor officials release county-by-county data once a month but it is often a month or more behind — which can seem like ancient history during this pandemic. The most recent figures from the state show San Diego County at a .Advertisement Ray Major, chief economist at SANDAG, said the organization developed the model to quickly track where help is needed most, rather then wait a few months to figure out how many people are out of work. “We want to see, as a government agency, what areas in the region need the most help,” he said. “Who is getting hurt the worst by this? So we can take some type of action.”One way the SANDAG model works is by looking at what types of jobs people are employed at in each ZIP code. It is already clear from state and federal unemployment claims what job categories are going by the wayside: tourism, retail and personal care services.SANDAG said the hardest-hit areas are National City, Golden Hill, City Heights and San Ysidro because of the high number of workers in those job groups. Interactive map shows how coronavirus outbreak has impacted unemployment by ZIP code in San Diego County. Areas where San Diegans can work from home, or that have a high number of essential workers, fared much better. The least-affected areas were Rancho Santa Fe, northeast Chula Vista, West Rancho Bernardo and Del Mar. Alan Gin, an economist at the University of San Diego, said statistics show the impact of COVID-19 is not spread evenly across communities in the region. Gin said low-income workers were among the first to lose their jobs, especially anything connected to leisure and hospitality, so it makes sense low-income areas — like National City — would show a bigger hit. “This is going to make the income distribution situation, which is already bad, even worse,” he said. Gin said, coming out of the crisis, low-income workers may continue to face hurdles. He said many companies might downsize and speed up automation efforts. “Robots can’t get the virus,” Gin said. SANDAG said the unemployment rate was around 4.9 percent in the third week of March, meaning the jobless rate grew by nearly 20 percentage points in a month. State labor data, which goes back to 1990 for San Diego County, has never seen a month-over-month figure coming close to that.Official U.S. jobless numbers also lag behind but the national unemployment rate is somewhere above 20 percent, according to . As of Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department said 26.4 million people had applied for unemployment benefits in the past five weeks. Get U-T Business in your inbox on Mondays Get ready for your week with the week’s top business stories from San Diego and California, in your inbox Monday mornings. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the San Diego Union-Tribune. Show Comments Load More Advertisement Advertisement AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement

Copyright © 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune | | AdvertisementAdvertisement San Diego County’s unemployment rate was an estimated 24.7 percent by the third week in April, said a new analysis, more than double the worst jobless rate of the Great Recession. The San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG, produced the estimate using the federal and statewide number of unemployment applications, and looking at what types of jobs have been lost. It then applied the figures to jobs data in San Diego County. SANDAG estimates nearly one in four San Diegans, about 430,000 people, are...

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Phillip Molnar

PhillipMolnar

The San Diego Union-Tribune, the region's leading news source since 1868. Follow our journalists, too: http://j.mp/UTstaff

Nearly 1 in 4 San Diegans unemployed because of pandemic, analysis says

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