Santa Cruz County Loses 23,000 Jobs to Pandemic

By Jondi Gumz

Santa Cruz County’s tourist economy took a punch in the gut from the COVID-19 pandemic in April: 23,900 jobs lost, with 9,900 in leisure and hospitality.

The county unemployment rate hit a record 17.4 percent, up from 8.1 percent in March and 5.3 percent a year ago.

The data come from the two surveys by the California Employment Development Department, which reported 2,344,700 non-farm jobs lost.

“The unprecedented job losses are like nothing before seen in California history in a current data series that dates back to 1976, and are a direct result of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the agency said.

In Santa Cruz County, nearly all sectors including real estate, construction and manufacturing suffered losses.

Accommodations and food services, a robust sector with 12,200 jobs at hotels and restaurants, shrank 69 percent compared to a year ago.

Local government, which had 16,800 jobs a year, fell 25.6 percent.

Private education and health services, which had 18,100 jobs, dropped 15.5 percent.

Retail, which had 11,800 jobs a year ago, dropped 11 percent.

The size of the labor force in the county retreated from 141,500 in early March to 132,800.

So did total employment, which includes people commuting out of the county, from 130,000 in early March to 109,700, leaving 23,100 people out of work.

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To view the report, see: https://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/file/lfmonth/scrz$pds.pdf