Despite the hammering of the Golden State by a steep recession, San Diego has more than held its own.
The state’s jobless rate hovers around 12.5 percent. San Diego’s? Around 10 percent.
The secret? In a word, clusters.
The region benefits from a diverse economy based on critical concentrations of companies in so-called clusters, accounting for the current relatively healthy employment rate as well as a more optimistic outlook for future job growth.
Marney Cox, chief economist for the San Diego Association of Governments, or Sandag, says the importance of clusters was discovered after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
That’s when more than 10,000 to 12,000 jobs were lost when General Dynamics, the region’s largest defense contractor, downsized and reorganized, abandoning manufacturing facilities.
“They literally disappeared,” said Cox, of the defense jobs.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Economic Ecosystems Create Enterprising Environments | San Diego Business Journal
Author: Tom York
