San Diego County’s unemployment rate tied its highest level of the year in July, led by teachers and educational support staff on break but also losses in other industries.

The region’s unemployment rate was 4.7%, state labor officials said Friday, up from a revised 4.5% the previous month. San Diego’s jobless rate was also 4.7% to start the year, but fell to a low of 3.9% in May.

It is common for the unemployment rate to rise in the summer as the majority of teachers and school staff are off. Yet it was also mixed with losses in more than half of industries — and sluggish growth in positive categories.

Government, which is mainly education, shed 17,600 workers from June to July. It was followed by 1,500 jobs cut in professional and business services (legal, scientific, waste management, architectural); 1,300 jobs were lost in private education and health services (nursing, social assistance, private schools and universities); 1,100 lost in leisure and hospitality (hotels, casinos, bars and restaurants); 200 jobs were cut in financial activities (real estate, insurance, investments); and 100 positions lost in construction.

There were some job gains, but they were relatively modest. Trade, transportation and utilities (mainly retail) added 1,100 jobs; manufacturing was up by 400; other services (laundry, maintenance, religious) added 300; and information (telecommunications, newspapers, publishing industry) added 100.

When adjusted for seasonal swings, San Diego County’s unemployment rate in July was 4.3%, according to Daniel Enemark, chief economist of the San Diego Regional Policy and Innovation Center. That compares to the 4.1% U.S. average jobless rate and 5.1% in California.

“A steady unemployment rate isn’t a guarantee of economic strength,” Enemark said. “There are other changes afoot in the economy. While the adjusted unemployment rate has stayed steady, our labor force has been dropping like a stone.”

San Diego County’s labor force — adults who either have a job or are actively looking for one — fell to 1.63 million, its lowest in three years.

The local labor force hit a record of 1.68 million in March 2025, said state records going back to 1990. The labor force is now down nearly 50,000 people from its high.

Alan Gin, an economist at the University of San Diego, noted steady retirements of the baby boom generation as a minor factor but that it couldn’t explain such a large decline.

Gin said the largest factor was likely workers leaving the San Diego area for lower-cost metropolitan areas. He said most students he talks with want to stay in the area, but it’s hard to pull off when crunching numbers. Gin said other areas might have lower wages, but housing costs are cheaper, which means more take-home pay.

“They might be able to earn a higher real income,” he said. “That would be the primary factor, which is all cost-driven, specifically housing.”

San Diego County isn’t an island unto itself with a shrinking supply of workers. The U.S. labor force had fallen by roughly 1 million people in a year as of July. Experts have pointed to several factors: an aging population, stricter immigration policies and a trend of discouraged adults leaving the workforce altogether.

Who’s hiring?

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman led new San Diego County job advertisements in July, with 108 new postings, according to state data that aggregates job postings.

It was followed by UC San Diego with 101 help-wanted ads, Apple with 35 and Sharp Healthcare with 26.

Looking at overall open positions, not just new ones, UC San Diego had the most with 769 advertisements. Many of the open jobs, with specialized skills, can stay open for months. It was followed by Scripps Health with 630, Qualcomm with 619 and Northrop Grumman with 607.

The profession with the most open job ads was retail salespersons, with 1,598. It was followed by registered nurses, with 1,416 ads; software developers, with 1,141; and supervisors of retail sales workers, with 1,118.

The big picture

Over the past 12 months, San Diego County has added 7,600 jobs. That compares to 6,200 jobs added the same time last year.

The largest job gainer was private education and health services with 13,900 positions. It was led by social assistance hiring, which includes work helping homeless people, aides to disabled San Diegans and various counseling positions. There were also gains in ambulatory services and work at residential care facilities.

Other job gainers included leisure and hospitality with 4,100; other services with 2,500 new jobs; and trade, transportation and utilities with 200.

Job losses were in government, down by 6,000; construction, which shed 2,900 jobs; financial activities, down 1,800; information, down 1,200; manufacturing, down 800; 300 farm jobs lost; and professional and business services, down by 100.

State officials do not seasonally adjust jobless rates for individual counties. Compared with other parts of California, San Diego County was in the middle of the pack with its unadjusted rate of 4.7%.

The unemployment rate was 5.2% in Los Angeles County, 4.2% in Orange County, 3.9% in San Francisco County, 4.1% in Santa Clara County, 5.3% in Santa Cruz County and 5.9% in Riverside County.