San Francisco Chief Economist Particulars Affect Of Distant Work On Metropolis Funds – CBS San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) – Tech companies and workers aren’t leaving the Bay Area, but they’re moving around it, according to data presented at a board committee hearing in San Francisco on Wednesday.

At a meeting of the budget and finance committee, the city’s chief economist Ted Egan stated that most of the job fluctuations in the city are businesses starting, growing or closing – fewer than 20 companies have moved into or out of the city, said he.

However, job advertisements show that tech companies are increasingly reliant on remote workers. Job vacancies show hiring opportunities are recovering to pre-pandemic levels, but about 17 percent of tech jobs listed in the San Francisco site are now out of the way, compared to 2 to 3 percent before the pandemic, Egan said.

In addition, there is more unused office space available for sublet than ever before in the last 20 years. Since the pandemic began, the space available for subletting in San Francisco has increased 183 percent, Egan said.

Housing data also supports the conclusion that workers are moving from San Francisco to other parts of the Bay Area, Egan said. The real estate prices of the online real estate tool Zillow show that prices for single-family homes in San Francisco have fallen despite rising real estate prices nationwide. Egan added that real estate price growth has also been low in other areas with highly concentrated tech jobs such as Palo Alto and San Jose.

Meanwhile, housing prices are rising sharply in other regions of the Bay Area like West Marin County, East Contra Costa County, and Napa – areas where life could be more meaningful if you don’t have to commute to town that often or so often all.

“These are not people who are fleeing the Bay Area and fleeing to Miami or Texas,” Egan said. “But it points to a redistribution of people and tech talent within the Bay Area and perhaps within Northern California as well.”

As a result of remote working and redistribution, payroll within the city has plummeted. San Francisco is based on how much of a company’s gross revenue is taxable to the city based on the proportion of their payroll that is paid within the city, Egan said, and the city could lose tax revenue due to falling payroll. Estimates are currently “very uncertain,” he said, but could have a major impact on the city’s economy.

With the demand for technicians still high and survey data showing that many workers prefer flexible working from home, Egan said that trend could continue, at least in the medium term. The impact could affect not only the city’s tax revenue and housing demand, but also restaurants, retailers and hotels, which previously relied on office workers for much of their clientele.

Kate Sofis, director of the city’s Department of Economic and Human Resources Development, added that the city has launched and is working on several initiatives to strengthen ties with technology companies. These initiatives include urban resident education programs like TechSF and efforts to remove barriers to business startups without resorting to tax incentives.

Supervisor Matt Haney also pointed out the importance of empowering local education systems like the San Francisco Unified School District and San Francisco State University to keep companies providing a skilled workforce to continue drawing from.

“It’s a win-win for businesses and a win-win for our residents, especially those who are often excluded from these industries,” said Haney.

© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.