Category: News

Each month the California Employment Development Department (EDD) releases industry data for the prior month. This edition of San Diego’s Economic Pulse covers August 2017 data, including unemployment, new business establishments and job postings.

Highlights include:

• The region’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in August, unchanged from a revised 4.7 percent in July.
• The unemployment rate was unchanged in every jurisdiction, with the exception of Carlsbad, which increased by 0.1 percentage points in August.
• The region’s labor force grew again in August, adding 300 workers during the month.
• Year-over-year, real estate, rental and leasing growth outpaced all other sectors, up 7.1 percent; an increase of 2,000 jobs.

Read San Diego’s Economic Pulse here.

Amid global political gridlock and NAFTA renegotiations, talks on trade are booming more loudly than ever. At the forefront of such conversation is President Trump’s persistent push for U.S.-produced “Made in America” goods. While manufacturing remains a key component of the U.S. trade policy – accounting for 56 percent of total U.S. exports – Brookings’ newly released Export Monitor 2017 suggests a necessary shift in policy strategy. And counter to Trump’s strategy, regions like San Diego – where a growing share of exports are service-related – may reap the benefits.

Nationally, only eight of 35 major industries experienced export growth between 2014 and 2016, led by educational and medical services, management and legal services, commodities, travel and tourism, and the technology sector – noting a particular uptick in international attractiveness of U.S. universities and hospitals. That said, the report indicates that if current trends continue, services will surpass goods as the largest export category in 2020 within the 100 largest metro areas.

Taking a closer look at San Diego, a highly connected innovation economy, the report shows:

• San Diego ranks as the 15th largest metropolitan region in the U.S. in terms of its GDP and the value of its real exports ($22.9 billion).
• When comparing export intensity among the top 100 metropolitan regions, San Diego ranks 37th (9.9 percent) – this is up from 50^th (10.03 percent) in 2014.
• A total of 134,350 jobs were supported by exports; 66,940 of which are direct jobs.

Manufacturing is an important part of San Diego’s economy and that will not change. However, With manufacturing exports on the decline and services exports on the rise, Brookings’ Export Monitor suggests challenges for President Trump’s “Made in America” agenda. The administration’s trade strategy cannot merely be a manufacturing strategy; it must also include promoting and expanding access for services exports. This means addressing barriers like physical presence requirements, local data storage mandates, temporary staff relocation restrictions, cross-border data flow constraints; it means continuing to confront discriminatory practices and offshoring, and technological advancement and workforce development that sustain regional competitiveness.

As an innovation economy, home to a world-renowned life sciences and defense ecosystem, services exports (think: IP) are among top priority in San Diego. And as the third most patent-intensive region in the world, connectivity to foreign markets – especially as it relates to sharing San Diego-made, life-changing technologies and discoveries with the rest of the world – and a balanced trade policy is make or break.

See more in Brookings’ full report, San Diego export scan and press release.

Each month the California Employment Development Department (EDD) releases industry data for the prior month. This edition of San Diego’s Economic Pulse covers July 2017 data, including unemployment, new business establishments and job postings.

Highlights include:

• The unemployment rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 4.7 percent in July.
• Unemployment increased in 19 out of 19 jurisdictions. Imperial Beach saw the largest increase of 0.6 percentage points.
• The region’s labor force grew again in July, adding 12,500 workers during the month.
• Year-over-year, real estate, rental and leasing growth outpaced all other sectors, up 4.9 percent; an increase of 1,400 jobs.

Read the Economic Pulse here.

In partnership with the Cyber Center of Excellence and SPAWAR, EDC coordinated a two-day tour for 40 DoD Chief Information Officers (CIOs) from the U.S. and allied nations. The tour is part of an annual best practices trip led by the U.S. to help military and intelligence agency CIOs learn about new commercial technologies in cyber, artificial intelligence, machine learning and nanotechnology. This was the first time that this group has selected San Diego for a best practices trip, typically traveling to Silicon Valley, Boston and New York instead.

The San Diego tour kicked off with an hour and half long conversation hosted at Qualcomm by their CEO Steve Mollenkopf, discussing the impacts of 5G technology. This was followed by a whirlwind of technical presentations from local companies AttackIQ, Qubitekk, Websense, Illumina, FICO, KnuEdge and iboss along with leadership from UC San Diego. Several companies who presented are now working on new projects with key agencies as a direct result of this trip.

Following seasonal declines in employment during Q1, San Diego experienced an increase in employment during Q2 2017. The region added 14,100 jobs – a 0.98 percent increase in employment during the quarter. Year-over-year, the region added 27,800 jobs, increasing employment by nearly 2.0 percent.

Meanwhile, San Diego’s unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage points during Q2, but is 0.6 percentage points lower than the same period a year ago.

Other key findings from EDC’s Quarterly Economic Snapshot include:

• San Diego closed Q2 2017 with an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent, the 15th lowest among top U.S. metros and below the national and state rates of 4.5 and 4.9 percent, respectively.
• With the summer tourist season approaching, the leisure and hospitality sector recorded the largest quarterly gain, adding 9,300 jobs during Q2.
• The median home price rose 7.3 percent from the previous quarter, and is now up 8.0 percent compared to a year ago.
• VC dollars in the region increased 14.9 percent compared to the previous quarter.

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 release includes data from April to June (Q2) 2017.

Read it here.

Today, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and World Trade Center San Diego (WTC San Diego), JPMorgan Chase & Co. and business and civic leaders unveiled the 15 companies selected to participate in the MetroConnect program, a comprehensive export assistance program to help local companies accelerate their global growth.

From language translation software platform Urban Translations, to cleantech company Envision Solar, to veteran-owned brewer Julian Hard Cider, the 2017 MetroConnect companies represent a diverse cross-section of San Diego’s innovation economy.

Now in its third year, the MetroConnect program equips small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) with a suite of financial and programmatic resources to support their efforts in bringing their products and services global. Powered by JPMorgan Chase, MetroConnect resources include:

• $10,000 in matching grants to cover up to 50 percent of the costs associated with international expansion
• Dedicated WTC San Diego staff manager to support company participants in deploying overseas strategies during the grant period
• Access to workshops that address export compliance, financing and fundraising and more
• Reduced airfare on the Japan Airlines direct flight from San Diego to Tokyo, and on Air Canada direct flights from San Diego to Canada
• Free access to SYSTRAN software for website translation and customer service needs
• Consideration to compete for an additional $35,000 during the MetroConnect Grand Prize Pitchfest in May 2018

WTC San Diego is proud to congratulate the 2017 MetroConnect companies:

1. Coronado Brewing Co.
2. CP Global Manufacturing
3. CureMatch
4. Del Mar Oceanographic
5. Dermala
6. Envision Solar International
7. FoxFury
8. Guru
9. Julian Hard Cider
10. Optimized Fuel Technologies
11. Performa Learning
12. Planck Aerosystems
13. Tioga Research
14. Tunnel Vision
15. Urban Translations

Get the details on this year’s cohort here.

Since the program’s debut in 2015, the 30 companies that have gone through the MetroConnect program have collectively generated $10.5 million in new export sales, signed more than 70 new contracts, added 50 new jobs to the region, set up nine new overseas facilities and seen three successful company exits. Past participants include Calbiotech (now ERBA Diagnostics), Rough Draft Brewing, Deering Banjo Company, Cypher Genomics (now Human Longevity Inc.), ROBO 3D and more.

In 2015 alone, San Diego exported more than $17 billion in goods overseas, as well as billions more in services like software, cybersecurity, engineering and research. SMEs produce 92 percent of those goods – driving home the point of programs like MetroConnect. According to the Brookings Institution, companies that are global pay higher wages, are less likely to go out of business and increase productivity of the domestic market.

As part of his commitment to expanding San Diego’s global reach, Mayor Faulconer has led trade missions to Mexico City and Vancouver this year, and will lead a delegation to London and Cambridge this fall.

­Each month the California Employment Development Department (EDD) releases industry data for the prior month. This edition of San Diego’s Economic Pulse covers June 2017 data, including unemployment, new business establishments, job postings and who’s hiring in the region.

Highlights include:

• The unemployment rate increased 0.7 percentage points to 4.3 percent in June.
• Unemployment increased in 18 out of 19 jurisdictions. Only Del Mar was unchanged, with an unemployment rate of virtually zero.
• Year-over-year, construction growth outpaced all other sectors, up 7.6 percent; an increase of 5,700 jobs.

Read the Economic Pulse here.