S.D.’s Economy Fastest Growing of 24 Areas Surveyed
Boosted by rapid growth in jobs and retail sales, San Diego’s economy is the fastest growing among 24 major metropolitan areas surveyed recently by a nationwide accounting and consulting firm.
The study by Grant Thornton, tracking a 3 1/2-year period through Sept. 30 takes seven economic indicators into account, including money supply, construction permits, business starts and failures, in addition to retail sales and job growth. San Diego’s economy has shown steady growth in all but one of the past 14 quarters, the firm said.
Gerald S. Engel, managing partner for Grant Thornton in Los Angeles, said San Diego’s job growth was a particularly favorable indicator.
About 42,000 jobs were created in San Diego County in 1988, a 4.5% increase, according to the state Employment Development Dept. The county’s unemployment rate as of October was 4.3%, a 14-year low, and significantly under the state and U. S. jobless rates.
“Employment growth depicts how healthy a particular economy is, and has an effect on the overall morale of the people,” Engel said. “If you have high employment, that means you have more disposable income and that people are more inclined to consume products, whether it’s automobiles or housing.”
Following San Diego on the list of top five growth areas were Minneapolis, Seattle, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C.
Engel also singled out San Diego’s healthy retail sales, which are expected to show a 7.2% increase in 1988 over the previous year, according to the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce.
San Diego’s 1988 gross regional product, the sum total of goods and services produced in the county, was expected by the chamber to reach $47.4 billion, up 5% in inflation-adjusted dollars from the 1987 total. That would be significantly above the 3.5% growth rate forecast for the U. S. economy as a whole, the chamber has said.
Rounding out the top 10 fastest-growing economies in the survey were Baltimore, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and St. Louis.
