Even as AI booms, San Francisco is still losing jobs (San Mateo: attorney, employment)

[mattja]

According to the state Employment Development Department’s latest revised reports, San Francisco and San Mateo counties lost 16,700 jobs overall between February 2023 and February 2024, with 14,300 jobs lost in the information sector, which includes tech.
...
“Tech is actually much worse than it was listed before,” said Ted Egan, the city’s chief economist. “Based on old data, you could say that layoffs were moderating, but there’s no sign of it recovering at this point.”

Although many have put their hopes in AI as the solution to the downward trajectory, experts are skeptical of the industry’s ability to bring back enough jobs by itself.

Industry “giants” like San Francisco-based OpenAI and Anthropic have roughly 770 and 300 employees, respectively, according to reporting from The Information, as opposed to the tens of thousands employed by the likes of Amazon, Alphabet and Meta.

And there's every reason to think their workforces will never be as large, even if their market capitalizations continue to mushroom.

“San Francisco is at the epicenter of AI, but the number of jobs being generated from it is very modest,” said Michael Bernick, an employment attorney with law firm Duane Morris and a former director of the state EDD.

As a point of reference, job trend tracker Comprehensive.io, found there were only around 2,000 AI-focused job positions posted over three months last year.

https://sfstandard.com/2024/03/26/sa...er-edd-report/

AI will not save downtown SF. There's not enough jobs being created and those that are being created don't require the workers to be in the office.

The city better come up with something else.

[mattja]

Iconic SoMa nightclub Temple to shutter, ending era for tech industry revelry

Temple Nightclub, a long-standing hot spot for San Francisco's tech industry elite, will shut its doors for good on May 25, according to a filing with the state.

In a WARN notice sent to the California Department of Employment Development, Temple's management cited "financial difficulties due to economic changes within our industry" as the primary reason for the closure. The 116,000-square-foot club, located at 540 Howard St., has been a popular gathering place in SoMa for tech workers and entrepreneurs in the city since it opened in 2007.

"For the last several months Temple Nightclub has experienced financial difficulties due to economic changes within our industry," the letter read. "In the past years we have taken action to adapt to this new market with new processes. Unfortunately, this action has not resulted in increased profitability."

https://sfstandard.com/2024/04/11/sa...tclub-closing/

Is tech bro culture finished in San Francisco? It kind of appears so.