San Mateo County hosted its first session of an Economic Recovery Roundtable Series this month, to better understand how to address the impacts of the pandemic on workers and local businesses to ensure a strong recovery effort. The first session explored robust data analyses led by UC Santa Cruz Professor Dr. Chris Benner detailing the hardest hit industries and populations in our county, as well as local economies poised for the most growth over the coming years including information and professional/technical sectors, and to some degree healthcare.  The event also featured the perspectives of the business community on our economy and future trajectory in the county.  Additional takeaways included:  

• The County lost nearly 6 years of job growth by February 2021 
• Food services, art, entertainment, and recreation industries experienced the largest declines, often in jobs that already provide little career or pay advancement. 
• The largest educational disparities disproportionately experienced by Latinx and African American residents in the county. 
• Essential small businesses and employers, including the child care industry and food services would not have survived the pandemic without local, state, and federal grants and the support of local residents.  

HPP will use the findings and learnings from this workshop to inform our update to the Low Wage Worker Profile to better understand the vulnerability of low wage workers to the impacts of the pandemic and how to support their upskilling and access into growing industries that provide family sustaining wages and career pathways.  Please check out this flyer for upcoming roundtable discussions in September.