San Diego added 4,300 jobs in May. Here's who's hiring
San Diego County’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in more than two years in May, led by tourism hiring.
The region's unemployment rate was 3.9%, state labor officials said Friday, down from a revised 4.1% in April. That was lower than the California average of 4.7% and the nationwide average of 4.1%.
The biggest gain came from the leisure and hospitality sector, which increased hiring ahead of the summer tourism season. The sector, which includes hotels, casinos, bars and restaurants, added 3,600 jobs from April to May.
Other categories with growth were construction, up 900 jobs; government, up 600; financial activities (real estate, insurance, investments), up 300; and manufacturing, up by 200. Trade, transportation and utilities (mostly retail), lost 700 jobs; professional and business services (legal, scientific, waste management, architectural) shed 300 jobs; and private education and health services were also down by 300.
May marked the sixth straight month of a falling jobless rate in San Diego County, its lowest level since December 2023, with 4,300 jobs added. However, there were factors that often give economists pause: Growth was mainly in low-paying jobs and the region’s labor force continues to fall.
The labor force is now 1.64 million people, down 9,200 from April to May. With the region's labor force - adults who either have a job or are actively looking for one - shrinking, there are fewer people applying for unemployment benefits. San Diego County’s labor force hit a high of 1.68 million in March 2025.
Retirements are a factor in a shrinking labor force, but a decline of 35,500 people in 14 months could point to bigger issues in the regional economy.
San Diego economist Ray Major said there are a variety of factors likely affecting the labor force: Potential workers leaving for lower-cost cities, stock market gains that often prompt more retirements, younger San Diego adults simply deciding not to work and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Major pointed to the growth of UC San Diego, which saw its enrollment top 45,000 for the first time this year, as evidence students are choosing to move elsewhere.
“We’re educating a tremendous amount of (university) students,” he said. “I don’t believe we’re absorbing all of those into the workforce. We don’t have enough high-paying jobs for that.”
So, will the local economy collapse if the labor force keeps shrinking? No, Major said, because the region’s population is not growing and it’s not like there would be a surplus of new jobs if there were an unlikely population boom.
“We don’t have the population base to support all of those jobs either,” he said. “We’re not growing as a region. It’s better to be closer to full employment with the people you have, than to have more people here who can’t find a job.”
When adjusted for seasonal swings, San Diego County's unemployment rate in May was 4.4%, according to Beacon Economics. That compares to the 4.3% U.S. average jobless rate and 5.3% in California.
Who’s hiring?
Defense contractor Northrop Grumman led new San Diego County job advertisements in May, with 109 new postings, according to state data that aggregates job postings.
Many of the companies seeking workers in May were businesses that require specialized skills and degrees. Other companies that increased advertisements were Sharp Healthcare, with 85 postings; General Atomics with 84; and Allied Universal with 78 ads.
Looking at overall open positions, tech giant Qualcomm had the most with 870 advertisements. Many of the open jobs, with specialized skills for artificial intelligence work, have stayed open for months.
The largest employers in San Diego County are the U.S. Navy, UC San Diego, San Diego County (government and education), Sharp Healthcare, Scripps San Diego and Kaiser Permanente.
The profession with the most open job ads was retail salespersons, with 1,696. It was followed by registered nurses, with 1,498 ads; supervisors of retail sales workers, with 1,191; software developers, with 1,139; and health and personal care aides, with 1,078.
San Diego had the most open job postings, with 30,566. It was followed by Carlsbad (3,086), Chula Vista (2,215), Escondido (2,027), Oceanside (1,988), El Cajon (1,818), Poway (1,453), San Marcos (1,428) and Vista (1,252).
The big picture
Over the past 12 months, San Diego County has added 13,100 jobs. That’s down from 16,000 at the same time last year, but up from 7,000 in 2024. The region added 42,400 jobs in May 2023 as part of the pandemic recovery.
The largest gainer in the past year was private education and health services, with 15,400 new jobs. Growth in the sector came from social assistance, nursing, residential care facilities and ambulatory care services.
It was followed by leisure and hospitality (hotels, casinos, bars and restaurants) with 7,000 jobs; professional and business services with 3,200; and other services (laundry, maintenance, religious) with 1,700 new positions.
Every other sector was down on an annual basis. Government saw the biggest drop, with a loss of 8,100 jobs due to federal cuts from the Trump administration.
Other losers were construction, down by 2,200; trade, transportation and utilities, down by 1,200; information (telecommunications, newspapers, publishing industry), down by 1,100; financial activities, down by 700; and manufacturing, also down by 700.
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 3.9%.
The unemployment rate was 5.2% in Los Angeles County, 3.5% in Orange County, 3.3% in San Francisco County, 3.4% in Santa Clara County, 5.1% in Santa Cruz County and 4.7% in Riverside County.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published June 19, 2026 at 1:05 PM.