Coronavirus employment recovery will not be equal across Bay Area, new report predicts
SAN MATEO, Calif. (KGO) -- Jobs are starting to come back after the coronavirus pandemic shut down California's economy, however a new report predicts that recovery will not be equal in all parts of the Bay Area and not for all families.
The report was created by Beacon Economics, an independent economic research and consulting firm based in Southern California.
On a whole, the Bay Area job market is recovering faster than the rest of California.
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The report shows unemployment has fallen to 8.4% in the South Bay, 9% in San Francisco, and 10.4% in the East Bay/Oakland area. When you compare that to Los Angeles at 17.5% and the state average of 14% the Bay Area seems be headed in the right direction.
"These variances are being heavily driven by the different industry and population composition among the state's diverse metro areas," said Taner Osman, Research Manager at Beacon Economics.
Los Angeles jobs primarily come from entertainment, hospitality and retail which are some of the sectors that have been hardest hit by the pandemic, while the Bay Area economy is largely driven by the tech sector which has weathered the shut down better than most industries.
But the report states that the overall economies of the Bay Area and the state will remain significantly behind the growth trends of 2019 and won't begin to fully recover until 2022.
San Francisco faces a more difficult comeback because many of its key jobs involve in-person services. "The healthcare sector," said economist Osman, "much like retail, much like leisure and hospitality, it's not a sector in which employees can continue the work that they might have been doing in an office or at home So that's a big part of the problem in San Francisco."
With the rebound stronger in Silicon Valley, service sector workers might want to consider training for tech-related jobs since that's where the jobs are being created. "It's helpful to the extent that the jobs created are ones that people can transition into," noted Russell Hancock, president and CEO of Joint Valley Silicon Valley, "so if it's possible for you to transition from the service economy into the tech economy, we're creating those jobs."
The analysis also says that households with children will recover slower due to the strain of maintaining childcare.
Compared to Southern California, the Bay area benefits from a higher average household income and families that have more 'heads of households' working in industries were working from home is more acceptable. This means they have a much lower risk for being exposed to COVID-19.
One of the biggest differences, however, occurs when comparing two-parent and single-parent households. Single-parent households have a lower average salary and a greater likelihood of a parent working in a more virus-exposed industry, a trend consistent for every region of California.
Compared to Southern California, the Bay area benefits from a higher average household income and families that have more 'heads of households' working in industries were working from home is more acceptable. This means they have a much lower risk for being exposed to COVID-19.
One of the biggest differences, however, occurs when comparing two-parent and single-parent households. Single-parent households have a lower average salary and a greater likelihood of a parent working in a more virus-exposed industry, a trend consistent for every region of California.
"All parents, especially single parents who are raising and supporting children on their own, are facing challenges like never before as they juggle their jobs with administering their child's education," said Osman. "That pressure is made exponentially worse for families without internet access or who have unstable connections."
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