In the past two decades, San Diego County Water Authority has invested more than $2.4 billion in five major water reliability projects. A new study released by EDC in partnership with the San Diego County Water Authority, quantifies the impact these investments have on our broader economy. These projects have generated $4.8 billion in total economic impact, supporting an average of 1,475 jobs annually over two decades and creating more than $1.8 billion in local wages and salaries.
The report also found that access to safe and reliable water supplies supports $482 million in total regional sales of goods and services daily – equivalent to the economic impact of nearly three Comic-Cons every day.
In addition, the report shows that more than 2,800 people work in the water and wastewater sectors at the Water Authority and its 24 member agencies. The water industry provides career opportunities across all levels of educational attainment, in everything from customer service to engineering.
SDCWA has kicked off the “Brought to you by water” campaign to share the impact of water across multiple industries.
We all know that water is essential for the viability of our communities, but we often take that for granted and that is a luxury,” said Janice Brown, chair of the EDC’s Board of Directors. “Without the infrastructure: pipelines, dams, treatment plants – we would not have reliable water. Reliable water makes us economically competitive.”
Each month the California Employment Development Department (EDD) releases industry data for the prior month. This edition of San Diego’s Economic Pulse covers May 2018 data, including unemployment, new business establishments, and job postings.
Highlights include:
The region’s unemployment rate was 2.9 percent in May, unchanged from April’s revised rate, and 0.8 percentage points lower than a year ago – the lowest since January 2000.
The majority of jurisdictions saw a decrease in unemployment rate from the month prior. Only National City saw its unemployment rate rise, an increase of 0.1 percentage points to 4.0 percent.
The labor force grew slightly, adding 900 workers during the month, up 0.1 percent. The labor force is now up 4,300 compared to a year ago, or 0.3 percent.
The largest increases came from leisure and hospitality, which added 2,100 jobs. Education and health services saw the only employment declines of any industry group, contracting by 300 jobs.
As part of the San Diego: Life. Changing. campaign, we’re always thinking of different ways to communicate San Diego’s story. And though it’s a mostly digital campaign, we know the value in prospective talent having something tangible to hold, touch, and keep at their desk to flip through whenever daydreaming of a better life.
This guide – as part of the Talent Recruitment Toolkit – provides an overview of what it’s like to work and live in San Diego, showcasing some of the innovations and technology created here, as well as the different neighborhoods recruits could soon be calling ‘home.’ Flip through the digital version of the guide below. If you’re interested in purchasing printed copies for use in your recruitment efforts, email us at communications@sandiegobusiness.org.
World Trade Center San Diego, through a grant provided by JPMorgan Chase & Co., and more than 100 business and community leaders awarded the 2017-18 MetroConnect Grand Prize to CureMatch, a local digital health company focused on personalized medicine and oncology. The company will use the $35,000 award to take its life-saving technology into the Canadian, Mexican and European markets.
“Three years in, the success of the MetroConnect program points to the importance of global trade and connectivity,” said Nikia Clarke, Ph.D., executive director of World Trade Center San Diego, the organization administering the grants. “From securing distribution partnerships in Japan to inking deals in key biotech hubs across the EU, the MetroConnect Grand Prize finalists are sharing their life-changing innovation with the world, helping strengthen San Diego’s economy and workforce.”
Managed by World Trade Center San Diego, an affiliate of the San Diego Regional EDC, and presented by JPMorgan Chase, the MetroConnect Grand Prize offers $35,000 to one of 15 companies to aid in their foreign market expansion. The complete list of finalists can be found here.
The benefits of companies going global and engaging foreign markets are well-documented. According to the Brookings Institution, companies that are global pay their employees higher wages, are less likely to go out of business and spur more efficient development of technology and R&D.
In 2017 alone, San Diego exported $23.8 billion in goods and services from diverse industries including aircraft manufacturing to pharmaceutical R&D. Small- to medium-sized businesses produce 92 percent of those goods – undergirding the importance of programs like MetroConnect.
Now in its third year, MetroConnect has emerged as the region’s premier export assistance program. Run by World Trade Center San Diego, 15 companies are selected on an annual basis and equipped with a suite of programmatic and financial resources to help them in their plans to go global. Out of 50 applicants in 2017, just 15 San Diego companies were awarded the initial $10,000 MetroConnect grant, funded by JPMorgan Chase. Since the program’s inception in 2015, the cohort companies have produced an additional $15 million in export sales and 161 new jobs for the region, collectively.
A panel of judges consisting of business and community leaders reviewed the companies’ respective accomplishments and goals as a means of selecting the top four finalists to present at the Grand Prize event: CureMatch, FoxFury, Planck Aerosystems and Tioga Research.
“CureMatch is thrilled to win the Pitchfest, with special thanks to World Trade Center San Diego and JPMorgan Chase,” said Stephane Richard, Ph.D., president and CEO of CureMatch. “Cancer has no boundaries, so while CureMatch was born in San Diego, we believe that every one of the more than 15 million people diagnosed with cancer this year deserves the best treatment. This grand prize will help CureMatch save more lives around the world.”
“JPMorgan Chase is committed to helping local businesses connect to the global marketplace,” said Tim West, region manager of JPMorgan Chase’s Middle Market Commercial Banking practice in San Diego. “We congratulate the finalists for their efforts to grow their businesses internationally while creating jobs and boosting our local economy.”
The Grand Prize event was hosted at Alexandria Real Estate on June 7, with keynote remarks by Matt Cole president, Cubic Transportation Systems and corporate senior vice president, Cubic Corporation.
From Intuit to Amazon and more, San Diego is home to numerous companies that come here to tap into the region’s impressive talent pool. However, Qualcomm aside, San Diego is not often thought of as a headquarter town.
Teradata, a data analytics company, might be changing that. This week, the company announced that it would be relocating its headquarters to San Diego from Dayton, Ohio. While Teradata has had a presence in San Diego for some time, 18 months ago it began to make a strategic shift from being a data warehouse company to a data analytics platform. And where do you find large volumes of software engineers, statisticians, and others to create the world’s premier data analytics platform? That’s right, San Diego.
As part of its shift to San Diego, Teradata will continue its aggressive hiring spree at its Rancho Bernardo campus, which currently holds more than 1,000 employees.
Thank you to those who joined us at EDC’s 52nd Annual Dinner, underwritten by Point Loma Nazarene University. This event continues to remind us how lucky we are to call San Diego home – we are a region that lifts each other up and celebrates all the life-changing people and innovation around us.
We were honored to celebrate Dr. Mary Walshok with the Herb Klein Civic Leadership Award presented by Alexandria Real Estate, and Sempra Energy with the Duane Roth Renaissance Award presented by Carrier Johnson + CULTURE. And, we welcomed EDC’s new board chair, Janice Brown, founder of Brown Law Group.
Janice laid out a big vision for EDC and San Diego. And many of you have asked us how you can help make this a reality. Here are two quick things you can do that will make a big difference to us:
Sign up for the San Diego: Life. Changing. recruitment toolkit. In it, you will find free resources to help us all project one, cohesive image of San Diego to the world and the talent that should be here.
Nominate a small business for the Inner City Capital Connections program. The program is coming to San Diego this fall and is completely free thanks to Kaiser Permanente. Learn more about this truly life-changing program and please send us a note if you have any suggestions.
Like Janice eloquently said, we must continue to embrace change to fuel progress in our region and beyond. Thanks for pushing and helping us to do this work.
Download pictures from the event here. We’ll be adding more as we receive them so check back soon.
This week at EDC’s 52nd Annual Dinner, we were honored to officially welcome Janice Brown as EDC’s new board chair. After two years of leadership, Jim Zortman, retired Northrop Grumman executive and EDC chair since 2016, symbolically ‘passed the gavel’ to Janice.
Having served as an EDC board member for eight years, Janice has helped guide the organization’s priorities and is well-equipped to lead EDC’s inclusive growth and #SDlifechanging efforts, among other initiatives. And she’ll do so with more energy and class than we could hope for.
Janice is the founding partner of Brown Law Group, a leading Southern California litigation law firm specializing in all aspects of employment and business litigation. She is known for her professional distinctions as well as her commitment to the community with over 30 years as a trial lawyer with significant trial, arbitration, and appellate experience. Janice received her undergraduate degree in Journalism and graduated with honors from the University of Montana in 1981. She graduated from Gonzaga Law School in two years, and joined the Justice Department’s Honors Program in 1984. At the Department of Justice, she tried lawsuits on behalf of the United States. Her distinguished career includes receiving the Department of Justice “Outstanding Trial Attorney” Award in 1987. Ms. Brown is rated AV®-PreeminentTM by Martindale and has been recognized as a Super Lawyer since 2007.
Brown Law Group’s representative clients include: UPS; Allstate Insurance; CenturyLink; Chelsea Investment Corp.; Coca-Cola; Jerome’s Furniture Warehouse; Liberty Mutual Insurance Company; McDonald’s; Toyota; U.S.D.A. Forest Service; Wells Fargo Bank and Xerox Business Services.
Due to regularly occurring seasonal effects, San Diego, and the overwhelming majority of the most populous metros, experienced a decline in employment during Q1 2018 (January – March). Leaving the holiday season behind, the region’s total nonfarm employment declined 7,300, or 0.5 percent. Compared to a year ago, nonfarm employment was up 27,000, or 1.9 percent.
Meanwhile, San Diego’s unemployment rate was 3.2 percent in Q1, the lowest the region has seen in the last 17 years and down from 3.3 percent in Q4 2017.
More key findings from the Q1 Economic Snapshot:
San Diego closed Q1 with an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent and the third lowest among the 25 most populous metros, up four spots from the previous quarter.
Following an addition of 9,500 jobs in Q4 2017, the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector decreased by 11,200 jobs in Q1, the largest quarterly loss. The majority of these jobs were lost within the retail trade sector as seasonal employees transitioned out.
Year-over-year, the San Diego region’s median home price continued to climb, growing by 8.2 percent.
VC dollars in the region increased 60 percent compared to a year ago.
The Quarterly Economic Snapshot analyzes key economic indicators that are important to understanding the regional economy and the region’s standing relative to the 25 most populous metropolitan areas in the U.S. This releases includes data from January to March (Q1) 2018.
Many of your inboxes have likely been bombarded this week with notifications of privacy policy updates from organizations of every kind. That’s because today is the day that a two year transition period ends and enforcement for the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) begins. This new regulation changes the ways in which companies can collect, protect, and use personal data, while bolstering consumer/user rights to their data.
Two years ago, the European Union adopted the GDPR, a regulation that harmonizes data protection and privacy laws for all EU individuals. We say EU individuals because the GDPR applies not just to EU citizens but also residents, workers, and even foreigners whose data is collected while on EU soil. Companies were given a two-year transition period to decide upon and execute a compliance strategy.
Some of the key issues addressed in the GDPR are:
Enhanced rights of data subjects
Digital consent
Right to erasure
Right of access/data portability
Responsibilities of the data controller/processor
Data Protection Officer (DPO) requirements
Handling of data breaches
Penalties for non-compliance
The GDPR is a complex legal framework that has been shrouded in controversy from the start. Some have argued that small businesses will be disproportionately harmed by the cost of compliance despite the initial target of the legislation being data giants, such as Facebook and Googl e. Not that compliance has been a breeze for those two companies either. As the EU’s judiciaries build precedence around this topic, the important thing for companies to do at this moment, is to ensure that their privacy policies and marketing efforts comply with the updated regulations.
You can check out our updated (and GDPR-compliant) privacy policy here.
The first cohort of biomanufacturing students at MiraCosta College is half way through their two-year bachelor’s degree program. That’s right – Oceanside-based MiraCosta Community College is one of only 15 community colleges in California to offer a bachelor’s degree program (114 total community colleges in CA). MiraCosta’s existing biotech associates degree program, which is the oldest in the county, helped the school gain prowess as a leading community college focused on life sciences. Building on that success, this new bachelor’s program will prepare students for work within San Diego’s lucrative biotechnology industry. The pioneer behind the program is Mike Fino: a UC San Diego Jacobs School alum, former industry researcher in regenerative medicine, and current Dean of Math & Sciences at MiraCosta.
With a background in industry, Mike Fino made the ideal moderator for EDC’s Link to San Diego: Life Sciences event at MiraCosta College in May. Formatted as a panel discussion followed by a networking session, Link to San Diego: Life Sciences welcomed representatives from Human Longevity Inc., Genentech, and BD to campus to speak about industry trends and lend advice to students on how they can prepare for a career in the San Diego industry. While open to all students, the program was primarily designed for MiraCosta’s biomanufacturing students to begin making industry connections and thinking about next steps as they work through their program.
The group of students who attended came prepared with resumes and thoughtful questions for the speakers. MiraCosta’s biomanufacturing BA program is a prime example of how San Diego’s community college system prepares its students based on the needs of our local economy, providing opportunities and value for residents and employers alike. Now, it’s our job to keep this bright and eager talent pool in San Diego.
