More higher paying jobs needed in Santa Cruz County, according to new report
While more than 6,000 jobs have been added in Santa Cruz County over the past decade, thousands are still commuting out of the county for work.
Since 2007, 6,300 jobs have been added, but officials say they aren’t the right kinds, “unfortunately they are low skilled and low-paying jobs. Unfortunately, it’s not really supportive to what our economy requires as far as a living wage,” says Economic Development Manager Andy Constable.
On average, the lower-paying jobs bring in about $25,000 a year.
The lack of high-paying jobs is driving people to work elsewhere.
“That’s a big problem,” Constable says, “because of the low-paying jobs that are available and the low skill in terms of the nature of those jobs, about 25,000 people are commuting over the hill, which is not only bad for the economy, but bad for the environment.”
The Santa Cruz County workforce is having to compete with tech giants in Silicon Valley like Google and Apple.
Officials say part of their new strategic plan includes looking into several industries that would bring higher paying jobs to the county, “one of which is information, communication technologies and healthcare is another one,” says Jason Hoppin, Santa Cruz County spokesperson.
Hoppin says “these are potential growth areas here in Santa Cruz County that provide high paying jobs so people can afford to live here, raise their families here. That’s what we want, ultimately. I think what we’ll do is look at those areas and see what we can to do encourage and foster the development of those industries.”
Another issue highlighted in the report is the job growth in South County.
The report says that area is seeing lower job growth and higher unemployment rates.
To help combat that, Constable says, “we’re seeing South County as a sector we probably need to give our greater focus to. The workforce there is needing, I think, higher skill levels so we can bring them into higher paying jobs and that’s really what we’re going to try to do in terms of workforce-development efforts.”
To read the full report, you can visit the county’s website by clicking here.
