California Job Market Has Pronounced Slowing
Financial hiring, construction down
By Dean Calbreath
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERJuly 22, 2006
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Peter Morici, economist at the University of Maryland, said the number of jobs added recently nationwide has been “well south of the number needed to keep unemployment from rising.”
In California, the weakest segments in the jobs market are two of the areas that have seen the greatest growth in recent years: construction and real-estate services.
On a seasonally adjusted basis – filtering out the effects of the typical summer spike in construction – construction firms statewide were down 500 jobs in June and financial firms were down by 1,000, with most of the declines concentrated in loan services.
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But those gains were tempered by the weakness in construction and lending, which reflects a slowdown in the housing market.
In the meantime, San Diego County continues to add construction jobs, according to data that are not adjusted for seasonal variations.
Countywide, construction companies added 1,400 jobs in June, mostly in specialty trade professions, such as electricians and carpenters.
Mason added that one reason for the continuing health of the local construction industry is a rise in office construction.
“Office construction may be keeping us alive in San Diego,” she said. “Unfortunately, the methodologies we use can't tell us exactly how much employment comes from office construction versus residential.”
Other local employment growth included 2,600 jobs in leisure and hospitality services, which tend to swell during the summer tourist season; 1,100 jobs in trade and transportation, led by retail jobs in clothing stores; and manufacturing, which added 300 jobs, mostly making computers and electronics.
In San Diego, unemployment climbed to 5.2 percent last month from 4.7 percent in May, due to seasonal fluctuations.