The good news is that Los Angeles County is on track to gain tens of thousands of jobs over the next four years. The bad news is that most of the new jobs will be of the low skill, low pay variety. The nonprofit Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp’s new report out Wednesday says administrators and food servers will add the most positions through 2020, combining for a total of about 93,000 new jobs. Robert Kleinhenz, Executive Director of Research for Los Angeles-based Beacon Economics says the new data reinforces old trends.
“We do need to keep in mind that some of these industries (that are hiring) are the largest industries in terms of employment here in LA and in Southern California. So, for example, leisure and hospitality which includes eating and drinking places is the third-largest employer in LA County. Retail is number four. So, when you look at the job counts that are anticipated, and the fact that they are going to be heavily weighted towards some of these industries, that should not be a surprise. Yet, it is distressing, of course that we know a lot of these people are going to have a hard time making ends meet.”
The county will gain only about 19,000 production and engineering jobs during the same period, according to the report.
Kleinhenz says large numbers of engineers are still employed in aerospace in Southern California. He added that Los Angeles’ low apartment vacancy rate is putting upward pressure on rents and making life even more challenging for residents earning low wages.
Kleinhenz was a guest on 790 KABC’s McIntyre in the Morning Show with Doug McIntyre and Terri-Rae Elmer.
By Sandy Wells
KABC News
