Economic Overviews

The largest sector in Monterey County, California is Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting, employing 54,974 workers. The next-largest sectors in the region are Health Care and Social Assistance (22,155 workers) and Retail Trade (16,755). High location quotients (LQs) indicate sectors in which a region has high concentrations of employment compared to the national average. The sectors with the largest LQs in the region are Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting (LQ = 20.14), Public Administration (1.48), and Accommodation and Food Services (1.13).

Our Work-from-Anywhere Future

The pandemic has hastened a rise in remote working for knowledge­ based organizations. This has notable benefits: Companies can save on real estate costs, hire and utilize talent globally, mitigate immigration issues, and experience productivity gains, while workers can enjoy geographic flexibility. At the same time, concerns include how to communicate across time zones, share knowledge that isn’t yet codified, socialize virtually and prevent professional isolation, protect client data, and avoid slacking. Research into work-from-anywhere (WFA) organizations and groups that include the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Tata Consultancy Services, and Gitlab (the world’s largest all-remote company) highlights best practices and can help leaders decide whether remote work is right for their organizations. Read more…

Filling the Lifeboats: Getting Americans Back to Work in the Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has done something no foreign power, economic recession, or natural disaster could ever do: it has brought the American job market as close as it has ever come to a sudden, shuddering halt. And simply lifting social distancing restrictions isn’t going to be enough to restart it again. Read more…

Source: Burning Glass Technologies, July 2020

Living Wage Calculation for Monterey County, California

Source: MIT

The living wage shown is the hourly rate that an individual must earn to support their family, if they are the sole provider and are working full-time (2080 hours per year). All values are per adult in a family unless otherwise noted. The state minimum wage is the same for all individuals, regardless of how many dependents they may have. The poverty rate is typically quoted as gross annual income. We have converted it to an hourly wage for the sake of comparison. Read more…