Employment within San Diego’s "housing boom beneficiary" job sectors (construction, finance/real estate, and retail) has been effectively flat since last year. The number of people employed in this sector in September was down a razor-thin .1 percent from the prior September, according to the latest batch of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
CA has the largest number of
CA has the largest number of non-payroll employment in the country, at 10% of the workforce. They include realtors and other independent operators, and illegals. Their jobs are counted in the household survey, but not in the payroll survey.
So when the independent contractors and illegals lose their jobs, it doesn’t show up in rising unemployment. Not only is there lack of job growth, there is also rising unemployment that is not counted.
I also wonder if some workers are seeing their hours reduced, and the commission based realtors and lenders are seeing their income drop. So even though payroll survey shows flat growth, it could hide the drop in income.
We’ve seen a similar jobs
We’ve seen a similar jobs penomenon here in Silicon Valley. We documented it earlier this week at:
http://www.viewfromsiliconvalley.com/id274.html
Please check out the site to see, “What’s Really Happening,” in Silicon Valley.
Thanks!
http://www.viewfromsiliconvalley.com
Powayseller: “I also wonder
Powayseller: “I also wonder if some workers are seeing their hours reduced, and the commission based realtors and lenders are seeing their income drop. So even though payroll survey shows flat growth, it could hide the drop in income.”
Absolutely – For most people in real estate or mortgage-related businesses in San Diego, things are REALLY slow.
There are way too many real estate agents, mortgage brokers, appraisers, escrow people, etc. I would expect 20-25% of people in these fields to be doing something else in the next 12-24 months. There just isn’t enough business to go around.