(photo credit: talksrealfast)
San Diego has been the backdrop in many movies–if you enjoy comedies, you’ll probably remember this one: Anchorman, starring Will Farrell as Ron Burgundy. The movie has such great one-liners that it’s quoted often.
Like this one: “Today’s story is one of the more remarkable things ever to happen to San Diego or even the world.”
OK, today’s story may not be earth-shattering news, but it is important to tell: San Diego’s economy continues to make some healthy strides to recovery.
The San Diego Economic Development Corporation recently released its quarterly report, the Economic Snapshot.
The data allows those in the region to compare San Diego’s success with other cities and states. It shows what many people know: the region is a hotbed of high-tech and biotech industry which is helping to boost their employment numbers lately.
“San Diego Regional EDC’s work demands that we stay on top of comparative data,” said Mark Cafferty, President and CEO. “It’s what enables us to differentiate our region from our competitors. The Economic Snapshot ensures that our partners have good data and helps provide consistency across our regional efforts.”
Here are the highlights:
- San Diego’s April 2013 unemployment rate was down 1.6 percentage points from April 2012. This is the first April since 2007 the region had an unemployment rate lower than the U.S. San Diego continues to maintain a lower unemployment rate than all other California metros except San Francisco.
- San Diego added 19,100 jobs from January 2013 to April 2013. Private industry jobs continues to drive the economy. Professional and Business Services and Leisure and Hospitality and Manufacturing are top sectors.
- Aerospace, Navigation and Maritime Technologies is the lead industry sector, ranking 2nd among the 25 most populous U.S. metros. It accounts for 20.1 percent of the region’s innovation economy.
- San Diego companies received more than $178 million in venture capital dollars in the first quarter of 2013. This places the region 8th out of the 18 regions tracked by Price Water House Coopers Money Tree. Biotechnology companies are, once again, the biggest recipients.
“The data in the July issue of the Economic Snapshot indicates that San Diego, like much of the U.S., is continuing a trend of positive job creation, declining unemployment rate, and a rebounding real estate market,” said Mike Combs, Research Manager. “As the economy continues its recovery, it will remain interesting to track how we compare to other geographies throughout the U.S. and to see if we maintain the positive trends that we are currently seeing.”
As San Diego continues to thrive, so does the California economy because thriving regions lead to a thriving state. One of the goals of the California Economic Summit is to identify ways to boost industry clusters, like San Diego’s biotech sector, in all of the different regions of California.
And in the famous words of San Diego’s “Anchorman,” “until next time, you stay classy, San Diego!”
