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A Perfect Storm of Economic Factors in San Mateo County

It may never be easy to be unemployed or to work at a low-paying job while living in San Mateo County, but right now these situations are especially difficult.

Jennie Loft, Public Information Officer for the Human Services Agency of San Mateo County, says that a combination of factors is making life hard for those depending on government programs or low-income jobs to live in one of the most expensive counties in California. The economy is slowing down, fallout from the Sept. 11 attacks is hitting the California tourism industry and Governor Gray Davis is calling for $150 million to be cut from state agencies and departments in the coming months.

The budget cuts are the result of Executive Order D-49-01, which was issued at the end of October. The cuts will come from the current $99.4- billion state budget, which Davis signed into law in July. The California Department of Finance will decide which agencies will get their budgets trimmed.

Sandy Harrison, the Media Spokesperson for the department, said that no decisions have been made so far. He says that a budget proposal that includes the proposed cuts will be ready in January. Davis's executive order also called for state departments and agencies to submit plans for reducing operating and equipment expenses for the rest of the fiscal year, and these plans were to be put into effect as soon as possible. Harrison said that these proposals are currently under review.

Loft, the San Mateo County human services official, said that not knowing where the cuts will come from is nerve wracking, especially since the economy is "really affecting our families." She says that the county's Peninsula Worksites, which provide career services and information, have seen their number of clients double and triple. The most recent numbers from California's Employment Development Department shows the unemployment rate in San Mateo County is growing. It's now 3.1 percent, up from 1.2 percent in July 2000.

Loft says that changes in the airline industry have had a big impact on San Mateo County workers due to a close proximity to San Francisco International Airport. She says that airline industry layoffs have produced "ripple effects" that, in turn, affect people working in parking, baggage, restaurants, and the hotel industry.

Loft says that the County's Rapid Response Program is a service that companies sometimes utilize if they are planning to cut their workforces. The group comes to a worksite, and informs those who have just been laid off about unemployment insurance benefits, resources provided by the Human Service Agency and any severance pay that the employers may provide. Loft says that the Rapid Response Program has been used by about 45 businesses in the past month, about the same amount that used the service in the previous eight months.

San Mateo's high cost of living makes losing a job especially hard to swallow. A study entitled "Making Ends Meet" by the California Budget Project says that it costs a two parent family $42,304 per year to live in San Mateo County if one parent works full time and the other stays at home to care for children. If both parents work, the cost for the family jumps to $61,593, mainly due to the cost of childcare.

Adding more gloom to this picture is the uncertainty of the budget cuts, which Loft says could come during a period that is already rough for many people in the county.

"The irony of all this," Loft said, "is that with the economy the way it is now, there's this downturn, and they need our services more than ever, except our services may be cut because of the economy."

"I mean, it's just a bad scenario to be in."