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San Francisco Unemployment Rate Up In August

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Oct 15, 2008 12:14 am US/Pacific

San Francisco Unemployment Rate Up In August

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―

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San Francisco's unemployment rate continued to rise in August, though the full impact of the recent worldwide economic upheaval is yet to be seen, according to a report issued Tuesday by the city controller's office.

Citywide unemployment rose 0.2 percent to 5.9 percent in August, the highest since July 2004, the report said. Unemployment rose 0.4 percent in July of this year.

The number is still significantly lower than the 7.7-percent statewide average, and San Francisco ranks sixth lowest of the state's 58 counties, according to the controller's office.

Median home sales prices in San Francisco dipped in August to between $725,000 and $749,000, a 3.2- to 2.3-percent decrease, according to two separate housing estimates cited by the report.

The report noted that the data did not reflect economic conditions in San Francisco after September's collapse of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent worldwide credit crisis.

"It's sort of a wait and see right now," said Kurt Fuchs, a senior economist with the controller's office.

Fuchs said some sectors of San Francisco's economy would fare better than others.

"We're kind of waiting for the other shoe to fall," Fuchs said.

"It's too early to tell" which sectors will be most impacted, he added.

Though banking and financial services sectors may be particularly at risk, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo's purchase of Wachovia's banking operations "may soften the blow" locally, Fuchs said.

City officials are now in discussions with the mayor's office about possible responses by the city to the crisis, Fuchs said.

The city's response may become clearer following a planned hearing on the local impact of the economic crisis before the Board of Supervisors next week, "and we'll go from there," he said.

Today's economic report was buoyed by strong tourism numbers from July, when hotel occupancy in the city reached 90 percent.

That growth, however, was expected to subside, partly due to the recent mild strengthening of the dollar against the euro, making "San Francisco less of a bargain in the global tourism market," the report said.