Dueling Job Data, Revisited

Submitted by Rich Toscano on December 14, 2009 - 3:03pm

Last month I wrote about some mixed signals in the data from two different job surveys.  While the rate of job loss at San Diego companies was improving, the rate of loss among San Diego's residents -- regardless of where they are employed -- was hitting new highs.  The graph accompanying this article shows that this gap widened further in October.

I asked local economist Kelly Cunningham what he thought of the disparities between the two job surveys since the recession began. 

continue reading at voiceofsandiego.org

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Could the effect of formerly
Submitted by UCGal on December 14, 2009 - 8:02pm.

Could the effect of formerly full time workers being cut to part time hours also skew the household data. My husband falls in this camp - as do most architects he knows/works with... there's not enough full time work out there so firms that started out cutting jobs -now are down to bare bones staff - and that staff is only part time... Hoping to hang on till the economy picks up.

(I'd give less than 50/50 odds that the firm my husband works for will survive this downturn... It's pretty dire.)

I know several people who had full time work but their employers asked them to cut back on their hours. My brother in law - an engineer, was under threat of layoff and his VP "saved" his job - at 20 hours/week with no benefits.

A lot of people who were laid off are finding part time jobs because there aren't a lot of full time jobs. That has to be a hit on household income.

We've definitely seen what
Submitted by CA renter on December 15, 2009 - 12:58am.

We've definitely seen what you're talking about, UCGal. Also, a lot of people we know might still have a full-time job, but they've taken pay cuts and had reductions in benefits.

Still, we are seeing quite a busy year in our area. The restaurants and stores are as full as they've ever been, and many of the vacant retail spaces now have new tenants. Auto traffic seems really, really heavy again, too, after a nice emptying out in the mid-2008 through early 2009 period.

Lots of mixed signals out there, to be sure.

Thanks so much for all your work, Rich! Happy Holidays! :)