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San Diego Demographics

The region's population and employment growth rates are correlated to national economic cycles and sensitive to military spending. A large part of our manufacturing base since World War II has relied on Department of Defense expenditures. As defense expenditures increased during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, our employment base increased and more people moved into the region. At the end of the war, defense spending decreased leading to fewer job opportunities and a reduction in the rate of population growth.

By 1990, it was clear that the military spending would no longer sustain the levels they did in the mid-1980s. In the past few years employment in defense-related industries decreased dramatically as companies dependent on military expenditures began to downsize and restructure locally.

In 1990, employees in the San Diego region earned an average wage/salary of $22,131. The typical employee in the mining sector made $10,000 more than the average for the region. Workers in two of the nine sectors measured earned $6,000 to $9,000 less than the average for the region. Those who worked in the services sector in 1990 had the average wage closest to the regional average. These figures exclude most government employees, the self-employed, railroad employees, domestic service workers agricultural production workers, and employees on oceanborne vessels or in foreign countries.