{"id":848284,"date":"2026-08-08T19:08:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848284\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:08:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:08:17","slug":"ai-is-booming-on-the-west-coast-so-why-is-unemployment-so-high-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848284\/","title":{"rendered":"AI is booming on the West Coast. So why is unemployment so high there?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Despite AI skills and more than a decade of management experience in technology, Juan Ruiz has struggled to switch jobs in a state known for its tech scene: California.\n <\/p>\n

\n Ruiz has been looking for a new job with more pay since October 2024, sending out hundreds of applications, he told CNN. So far, it\u2019s been crickets.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cNobody\u2019s calling back,\u201d Ruiz said.\n <\/p>\n

\n America\u2019s tech companies are benefiting from the largest investment surge in history, according to the Bank of International Settlements \u2014 many of them headquartered on the West Coast. Yet unemployment in the region is among the highest in the country: In June, California, Oregon and Washington were tied for the second-highest jobless rate, at 5.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, behind Washington, DC\u2019s 6%.\n <\/p>\n

\"Juan<\/p>\n

\n Tech hiring has slowed sharply over the past few years, especially on the West Coast. The sluggish job market has shut out new entrants and left people like Ruiz feeling stuck. While companies are spending on AI, in many cases they\u2019re also conducting layoffs instead of expanding headcount, affecting employment broadly. And it\u2019s not just tech companies, according to economists.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAI technology is getting better and companies are using it, so they don\u2019t need to hire as many software developers or data analysts, for example,\u201d said Laura Ullrich, director of economic research at Indeed. \u201cLarge companies are also spending a lot of money on AI enterprise solutions, which usually means labor spending goes down, unless their budget grows.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Employment in California\u2019s information industry hit a six-year low in April, BLS figures show. By June, it was only slightly better. Meanwhile, that state\u2019s unemployment rate has climbed steadily since the beginning of the year.\n <\/p>\n

\n Unemployment claims are rising in California \u201camong workers who were formerly in highly AI-exposed occupations, especially those who are advanced-degree holders in the Bay Area and in technology-adjacent sectors,\u201d said Ben Hyman, an economist at the University of California, Los Angeles. A recent analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco showed that unemployed people with advanced degrees are among the groups struggling the most to find a job<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

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\"A<\/p>\n

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\n Hyman said AI is having \u201cvery concentrated effects\u201d on California\u2019s tech-adjacent industries, rather than the state\u2019s economy as a whole.\n <\/p>\n

\n Amazon and Microsoft, two of the largest employers in Washington, have both announced several rounds of mass layoffs in recent years. Microsoft last month reported that its total headcount fell for the first time in a decade, while Amazon has cut more than 30,000 jobs since October. Last year, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a note to employees that AI\u2019s integration into the business will likely \u201creduce our total corporate workforce.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Intel, the largest private employer in Oregon, also announced layoffs last month, impacting its data center operations and shrinking its workforce to 81,000 \u2014 down from more than 130,000 in 2022. Employment in the state\u2019s chip industry is now at a 30-year low<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n The US economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs last month<\/a>, the BLS reported Friday, as businesses navigated the ongoing fallout from the months-long Iran war.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rising transportation and freight costs spurred by the war continue to weigh on businesses in the San Francisco Fed\u2019s district, which spans a large swath of the country\u2019s western region, according to the Fed\u2019s latest periodic survey of businesses<\/a>, known as the Beige Book. Some businesses even reported vendor-imposed fuel surcharges, the survey said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The current economic landscape has led to businesses \u201cselectively hiring in response to attrition or specific business needs,\u201d according to the Beige Book.\n <\/p>\n

\n Matt Carter was laid off last year from his project manager job at tech firm Welocalize and has struggled to find a tech job in Portland, Oregon, ever since.\n <\/p>\n

\n He told CNN he sold his house shortly after being laid off and that his unemployment benefits have also run out. Carter is now considering becoming a security guard to make ends meet.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cGetting a tech job on the West Coast in a big city like Portland, Los Angeles, or San Francisco is kind of like winning the lottery at this point,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s just so much competition and not a lot of hiring.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite AI skills and more than a decade of management experience in technology, Juan Ruiz has struggled to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-848284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}