Workforce Report Documents Unprecedented Year

Press release from Santa Cruz:

June 22, 2021

Santa Cruz County’s 2021 State of the Workforce report demonstrates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy, finding disproportionate impacts to lower-income workers, a significant reorganization of the labor force including an expansion of remote work, and profound declines in small business revenues exceeding statewide figures.

With nine findings and five recommendations, the report details an unprecedented and
challenging year for employees and employers. Produced by BW Research Partnership
for the Santa Cruz County Workforce Development Board, the report documents the
pervasive impacts of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic on the local economy.

“California may have reopened for business, but the local labor force – particularly those
who bore the brunt of the pandemic’s impacts – still has a long path of recovery ahead,”
Workforce Development Board Director Andy Stone said. “COVID-19 has reshaped the
way we work and do business in ways we are only now beginning to understand.”

While there are early signs of economic recovery, the report notes that there is a
shortage of workers willing and able to return to work and that incentivizing a safe
return will play a factor in how quickly the county recovers. It also notes the while
remote work present opportunities for residents including a reduction in out-of-county
commuting, it may also make the county a more attractive destination for higher-wage
earners elsewhere, potentially exacerbating the county’s already tight housing market.

Workforce shortages may partly be due to an overall drop in labor force participation
that is nearly twice as severe as the Great Recession and four times greater than the
current statewide decline in labor force participation, the report found. Overall, 10,600
local residents appear to have left the workforce since February 2020.

The report also notes recent improvements in job quality throughout Santa Cruz
County, despite continuing to have a disproportionate number of lower-paying jobs
compared to state averages.

Included in the report are synopses of how various local businesses survived the
pandemic. The full report is available at https://tinyurl.com/3zbdncrr

This press release was produced by Santa Cruz. The views expressed here are the author’s own.