San Diego County unemployment rate reaches 5.2%

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego County is seeing a continued rise in unemployment.

San Diego’s jobless rate climbed to 5.2% in July — up from 4.9% the month before and above last year’s 4.8%, according to the state Employment Development Department.

"That’s high," said Alan Gin, economics professor at the University of San Diego's Knauss School of Business.

The biggest decline was in the government sector, which lost more than 17,000 jobs. 

“Schools are out. The teachers are not considered unemployed, they’re usually on a yearlong contract, but a lot of the support people," said Gin.

He added that the new graduating class also reflects poorly on the labor market.

Year-over-year figures show nearly 7,000 jobs lost in professional and business services.

“With artificial intelligence, that is impacting some jobs in the tech area," said Gin.

Also, year-over-year job growth is down in construction.

Gin said he thinks higher prices related to dining out could mean the hospitality sector will soon take a hit. However, right now it's on an upswing. 

“We cannot feed the industry fast enough. Chefs are just blowing us up constantly," said Kai Peyrefitte, culinary instructor at San Diego Job Corps.

Peyrefitte said the federally funded program typically serves at-risk young adults and offers 16 different trades like welding.

"They seem to be doing pretty well too the graduates coming out of there, so as far as the sectors with the trades, over there we seem to be pretty solid," said Peyrefitte.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Flowers, vice president of client services with the San Diego Workforce Partnership, said career centers are busy lately.

“Particularly among jobseekers 55 and up who find themselves needing to supplement," said Flowers.

Jobseekers can find more information here on resources available through the San Diego Workforce Partnership.