Tens of thousands of San Diego career opportunities should be available this year.
A new report from the San Diego Workforce Partnership predicts that San Diego County will add anywhere from 15,000 to 18,000 jobs this year, with an especially strong need for waiters, bartenders, temp workers, and computer specialists.
Any job growth would be good news for the San Diego area, which has continued to add workers in recent months, but also has maintained a high unemployment rate following the economic recession.
During December, the area's unemployment rate decreased from 10.4 percent to 10.1 percent, after rising from 10.3 percent during November. Despite the latest drop, the area's rate is still higher than the national average of 9.4 percent.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos area employed 1,225,100 workers during December, which is up from 1,222,500 workers during November and a .5 percent increase from the previous year.
Using a model developed by Economic Modeling Specialists Inc., SDWP predicts the following industries will hire the most this year:
- Food and beverage - 1,500 jobs/2 percent growth
- Office and administrative support - 1,000 jobs/1 percent growth
- Computer specialists - 800 jobs/2 percent growth
- Construction - 800 jobs/2 percent growth
- Teachers and instructors - 750 jobs/2 percent growth
- Nurses - 600 jobs/2 percent growth
However, SDWP Director Mark Cafferty told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the EMSI study is somewhat conservative when compared to current job postings. However, he said he prefers more conservative estimates so as not to disappoint job seekers.
"Employers can be very, very picky right now because there are so many people available in the market," Cafferty said. "And some businesses are still holding off hiring because they feel they've learned to do more work with fewer workers."
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