San Diego’s unemployment rate held steady in February with modest job gains in the region’s higher paying industries and losses in the retail sector.
The county’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent last month, which was the same as January’s rate, state labor officials said this week. San Diego’s unemployment rate was below the California average of 5.6 percent, but higher than the national average of 4.2 percent.
When the 4.7 percent jobless rate for January was reported last month, it was San Diego County’s highest rate since October 2021.
“San Diego is your typical coastal economy. It’s afflicted with bad housing shortage problems. But relative to the other coastal economies, it is by far and away the most enlightened,” said Chris Thornberg of Beacon Economics. “A lot of multifamily (housing) has been coming online … digging into public transport to connect all these places. And as a result of that San Diego is by far and away the healthiest coastal…