From event cancellations to local business closures, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on Berkeley’s economic makeup.
Unemployment, vacancy rates and other general economic trends across Berkeley are outlined through the city’s economic dashboards. The dashboards are updated with reports provided by the city’s Office of Economic Development, or OED.
The dashboards reported a tripling in the unemployment rate from 2019-20, increasing to 7.6% and thousands of job losses, according to Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín. Businesses within the hospitality, arts, food, retail and personal service industries have experienced the greatest levels of unemployment, according to the dashboards.
When the pandemic first took force, Bay Area companies Zenbooth and Gehl pivoted from business-as-usual to assist the medical field in advancing the fight against COVID-19.
Zenbooth, a San Francisco-based company that produces office phone booths, shifted from making privacy shields to using the same tools to design and produce sneeze guards what they have coined GoodGuards, according to Zenbooth CEO Sam Johnson.
Gehl, a design company focused on improving public spaces to be more appealing and accessible, including Times Square in New York City and Market Street in San Francisco, started creating kiosk testing centers, according to Blaine Merker, Gehl San Francisco managing director.