A Region Pulling in Two Directions: Jobs Lost, Billions Invested
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San Diego's July economic data presents a picture of genuine contradiction. The unadjusted unemployment rate held at 4.7 percent — tied for the year's high — while the seasonally adjusted figure sits at 4.3 percent. Neither number alone tells the full story. The regional labor force fell to 1.63 million in July, its lowest level in three years and roughly 49,000 below the March peak — a decline that suggests a meaningful share of workers have stopped actively seeking employment rather than finding it.
Two layoff announcements crystallized the week's economic anxiety. ServiceNow is cutting 133 San Diego positions by September 28, with cuts concentrated at senior and director levels in enterprise software. Stone Brewing issued WARN notices for 220 positions beginning October 19, a move that reflects a structural national shift away from craft beer toward ready-to-drink products and hard seltzers. The two stories are unrelated in origin but arrive simultaneously in the same labor market.
The housing picture splits sharply along product type. The county's single-family home median reached $1.099 million in July, up 5.7 percent year over year, with homes selling in roughly 33 days — but sales volume fell 6.7 percent month over month, a thinning market rather than a robust one. The condo and townhome sector tells a harder story: older units in some submarkets are reportedly down 10 to 15 percent from their peaks, HOA fees have risen 60 to 70 percent in some buildings, and special assessments as high as $100,000 per unit have landed in buildings carrying deferred maintenance. Realtor.com's August data showed San Diego's listing price per square foot fell 2.7 percent year over year, outpacing a national decline of 1.8 percent.
Against that backdrop, investment in the region's anchor sectors continues at scale. Khartis Therapeutics closed a $50 million Series B. Japan-based Craif established a $33 million R&D fund in San Diego targeting pancreatic cancer diagnostics. General Atomics received a $20 million California Competes tax credit tied to expansion of the DIII-D fusion facility. Northrop Grumman secured a $3 billion Department of Defense agreement. Life sciences and defense are absorbing genuine capital — but those sectors employ a specific credentialed workforce that does not overlap cleanly with the 220 craft brewery workers whose jobs end in October or the 133 mid-to-senior tech employees departing by month's end.