Every quarter, San Diego Regional EDC analyzes key economic indicators that are important to understanding the regional economy and the region’s standing relative to the 25 most populous metropolitan areas in the U.S.
EDC explains San Diego’s Q2 2023 economic data:
Key findings from Q2 2023:
- Unemployment grows as people exit the labor force. Unemployment in San Diego began to rise at the turn of the new year, reaching four percent in Q2 2023. On par with the national rate, most peer metros also saw unemployment rates rise in Q2. In San Diego, the labor market has softened as the number of unemployed people increased by 3,751 while the labor force declined by 25,889 since last quarter. In contrast to Q2 2022, the labor force declined by 8,966 and unemployment decreased by 3,316.
- VC resumes pre-pandemic upward trend. San Diego’s total Q2 VC exceeded last quarter but lags compared to Q2 2022. The largest recipient of VC this quarter was Avenzo Therapeutics at $196 million; the company is building a pipeline in preclinical or early clinical antibody-drug conjugates, bispecifics, and small molecules. This deal marks the 18th largest VC investment secured in San Diego since 2019. The region closed a total of 227 VC deals in 2022, compared to 96 deals in the first half of 2023.
- Office space asking rates grow while industrial asking rates decline. Office asking rates reached an all-time high of $3.26 per square foot, even as vacancy rates continued to increase over the past four quarters to 14 percent. On the other hand, industrial real estate has responded to a 0.5 percent increase in vacancy rate by offering lower asking prices of $1.66 per square foot. These more stabilized rates may be in part because industrial work requires employees be in-person, unchallenged by remote work trends.