San Diego County’s economy reached new heights in February led by increased help wanted advertising and low unemployment, said a monthly study from the University of San Diego.

The report from the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate looks at different parts of the local economy to see how it’s doing. In the report for February, all but one of the six economic indicators — local stock prices — were positive.

The index, which has data going back to 1977, hit a new all-time high in February.

In addition to four months in a row of increased help wanted advertising, the number of people out of work continues to drop. Alan Gin, author of the report, said the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in February was 3.5 percent — down from 4.4 percent at the same time last year.

Consumer confidence was positive for the 20th month in a row, led by a variety of factors, including a strong labor market. Residential building permits were also up from the same time last year.

Local stock prices, which include Qualcomm and Sempra Energy, lost ground as the national market saw more volatility than the past few months.

Gin wrote that while the index pointed to a strong economy in February, local and national economies may need to deal with shrinking jobs due to improvements in technology.

“The big long-term question is whether the improvements in technology will lead to opportunities elsewhere as has been the case in the past,” he wrote.

The USD index’s rating for February was 152.2, up .7 percent from last month. Its low was 100.7 in March 2009.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar