Los Angeles County Business Scan
The Kyser Center for Economic Research
Overall Outlook - Last Updated July 26, 2010
Click on any indicator for more details. Blue highlight : Recently updated
Indicator |
Most recent period |
Current reading |
Year earlier reading |
Annual % change |
Unemployment Rate |
June 2010 |
12.2%
|
11.3% |
+0.8 pp |
Construction Employment |
June 2010 |
102,300 |
118,200 |
-13.4% |
Technology Employment |
June 2010 |
87,800 |
88,600 |
-0.9% |
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Employment |
June 2010 |
270,700 |
277,100 |
-2.6% |
Finance and Insurance Employment |
June 2010 |
142,400 |
146,100 |
-2.5% |
Health Services Employment |
June 2010 |
351,300 |
351,800 |
-0.1% |
Fashion/Apparel Employment |
June 2010 |
75,400 |
77,700 |
-3.0% |
Ocean Container Traffic (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) |
June 2010 |
1,250,418 |
965,027 |
+29.6% |
Airport Passenger Traffic |
May 2010 |
5,597,406 |
5,288,125 |
+5.8% |
Single Family Housing Construction Permits |
May 2010 |
136 |
209 |
-34.9% |
Multifamily Housing Construction Permits |
May 2010 |
179 |
353 |
-49.3% |
Median Home Prices |
June 2010 |
$335,000 |
$320,000 |
+4.7% |
Revenue per Available Room (REVPAR) |
April 2010 |
$98.02 |
$93.08 |
+5.3% |
Industrial Vacancy Rate |
2Q 2010 |
3.3% |
3.1% |
+0.2 pp |
Film Production Days |
2Q 2010 |
11,335 |
9,795
|
+15.7% |
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Los Angeles County declined to 12.2 percent in June. Nonfarm employment had job reductions totaling -65,600 from June 2009. Year over year employment losses were evident in all of the major employment sectors. June container traffic at both the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach increased; aggregate container traffic for both ports stands +29.6% above last year. The demand for construction permits for single family housing dropped by -34.9% year-over-year and permits for multi-family housing fell by -49.3%. Median Home values in Los Angeles County jumped (+4.7%) on an annual basis, now similar to May 2003 price levels. On a positive note, passenger traffic at the combined L.A.-area airports actually increased year-over-year, up by +5.8% in May. Revenue per available hotel rooms (REVPAR) in April showed a year-over-year increase (of +5.3%). The industrial vacancy rate in Los Angeles County increased in the second quarter of 2010 from the same period in 2009 (by +0.2%). Total film production days in Los Angeles County increased in the second quarter of 2010 from a year earlier as well (up by +15.7%).
Unemployment Rate *updated*
June 2010: 12.2 percent
June 2009: 11.3 percent
The Los Angeles County unemployment rate (SA) declined in June compared to May. However, when compared to a year earlier the unemployment rate increased to 12.2. LA County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was less than California’s rate (12.3 percent) in June.
[View graph]
Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
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Construction Employment *updated*
June 2010: 102,300 employees
June 2009: 118,200 employees
Los Angeles County construction employment decreased by -13.4 percent in June compared to a year earlier. Construction employment in LA County has had consecutive year-over-year declines every month since August 2007.
[View graph]
Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
Construction is comprised of NAICS code 23.
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Technology Employment *updated*
June 2010: 87,800 employees
June 2009: 88,600 employees
Technology employment in Los Angeles County decreased by -0.9 percent in June from the same period last year. The decrease in jobs from a year earlier were found in; computer and electronic product manufacturing (down -1.6 percent to 50,100) and software publishing (down -1.8 percent to 5,600) with the exception of computer systems design and related services (no change) and in internet services (up +1.9 percent to 5,300). Technology employment has shown a consecutive year-over-year decrease since November 2008.
[View graph]
Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
Technology is comprised of NAICS codes 334, 5112, 5118, and 5415.
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Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Employment *updated*
June 2010: 270,000 employees
June 2009: 277,100 employees
Professional, scientific, and technical services employment (including computer systems design and related services) in Los Angeles County decreased by -2.6 percent in June from 12 months earlier. Employment in this sector has decreased year-over-year every month since June of 2008.
[View graph]
Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
Professional, scientific, and technical services sector is comprised of NAICS codes 54(except 5415).
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Finance and Insurance Employment *updated*
June 2010: 142,400 employees
June 2009: 146,100 employees
Finance and insurance employment in Los Angeles County in June decreased by -2.5 percent from a year earlier. June marks a forty-four month long period of consecutive year-over-year decreases in finance and insurance employment, reflecting the continuing turmoil in the financial industry and for mortgage lenders.
[View graph]
Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
Finance and insurance are comprised of NAICS code 52.
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Health Services Employment *updated*
June 2010: 351,300 employees
June 2009: 351,800 employees
Health services employment in Los Angeles County decreased by -0.1 percent in June from a year earlier. This was the first year-over-year decline in health services employment since May 2005. Employment decreased in health care (-0.4 percent to 403,200) and social assistance employment fell by -2.0 percent to 58,400 employees over the same period. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing increased +1.6 percent on a year-to-year basis.
[View graph]
Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
Health services are comprised of NAICS code 62 (except 624) and 3524.
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Fashion/Apparel Production and Wholesale Employment *updated*
June 2010: 75,400 employees
June 2009: 77,700 employees
Fashion industry employment in Los Angeles County in June decreased by -3.0 percent from a year earlier with a total of 75,400 employees. Jobs decreased in textile mills (-10.1 percent to 7,100), apparel wholesaling employment by -1.0 percent and in apparel manufacturing (-2.6 percent to 48,500).
[View graph]
Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
Fashion employment is comprised of NAICS codes 313, 315, and 4243.
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Ocean Container Traffic *updated*
June 2010: 1,250,418 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs)
June 2009: 965,027 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs)
Container traffic at the combined Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in June increased by +29.6 percent from a year earlier. The ports surpassed the one million mark in TEUs for the third straight month in June.
June was the seventh consecutive month of year-over-year increases in total container traffic at the combined ports; after 28 consecutive months of year-over-year declines (since July 2007). Loaded inbound containers climbed by +30.0 percent to 633,942 TEUs from a year earlier. Loaded outbound containers increased by +7.7 percent to 270,670 TEUs from a year earlier; it was the ninth consecutive month displaying an increase after a consecutive twelve month decline. Empty containers were up by +52.9 percent in June, reaching 345,806 TEUs compared to the 226,172 TEUs from the same period in 2009.
Container traffic increased in June at both the Port of Los Angeles (+32.4 percent to 730,318 TEUs) and at the Port of Long Beach (+25.8 percent to 520,100 TEUs) from 12 months earlier. The Port of Los Angeles continued its ninth month streak of year-over-year increases in loaded export containers. The Port of Long Beach had its eighth consecutive year-over-year increase in loaded export containers (+1.8 percent).
[View graph]
Sources: Ports of Long Beach (http://www.polb.com/about/port_stats/latest_monthly_teus.asp) and Los Angeles (http://www.portoflosangeles.org/factsfigures_Monthly.htm)
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Airport Passenger Traffic 
May 2010: 5.594 million passengers
May 2009: 5.288 million passengers
Passenger traffic for the combined LA County airports of Burbank, Long Beach, and Los Angeles increased in May by +5.8 percent from 12 months earlier. Passenger traffic increased by +6.6 percent at LAX (to 4.9 million) while passenger traffic decreased by -2.1 percent at Burbank (to 383,481) and fell by -3.2 percent at Long Beach (to 258,910).
[View graph]
Sources: Burbank (http://www.burbankairport.com), Long Beach (http://www.longbeach.gov/airport/airport_statistics/default.asp), and Los Angeles (http://www.lawa.org/lax/volTraffic.cfm) Airports
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Single Family Housing Construction Permits *updated*
May 2010: 136 permits
May 2009: 209 permits
Single family housing construction permits in Los Angeles County declined by -34.9 percent in May from a year earlier. This was the first decline after five consecutive months of increases.
[View graph]
Source: Construction Industry Research Board (http://www.cirbdata.com/)
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Multifamily Housing Construction Permits *updated*
May 2010: 179 permits
May 2009: 353 permits
Multifamily housing construction permits in Los Angeles County fell by -49.3 percent in May from 12 months earlier decreasing to a total of 179 multifamily permits.
[View graph]
Source: Construction Industry Research Board (http://www.cirbdata.com/)
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Median Existing Home Prices *updated*
June 2010: $335,000
June 2009: $320,000
The median price of homes in Los Angeles County increased by +4.7 percent in June from a year earlier. This was the seventh consecutive increase since December 2009. Before December, LA County median home prices had experienced consecutive year-over-year decreases every month since September of 2007. However, the median price in June was lower than that of May 2010 ($345,000).
[View graph]
Source: California Association of Realtors (http://www.car.org/)
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Hotel Revenue per Available Room (REVPAR) *updated*
April 2010: $ 98.02 REVPAR
April 2009: $ 93.08 REVPAR
Hotel revenue per available room (REVPAR) in Los Angeles County rose by +5.3 percent in April from the same month a year earlier. Hotel occupancy rates were up by +5.9 percentage points from April of last year, reaching 69.8 percent occupancy (for the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year increases). April average daily room rates fell by -0.5 percent from the same period in 2009, dropping to $140.53.
[View graph]
Source: PKF Consulting (http://www.pkfonline.com/)
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Industrial Vacancy Rate *updated*
Second Quarter 2010: 3.3 percent
Second Quarter 2009: 3.1 percent
The Los Angeles County industrial vacancy was above 3.0 percent for the first time since the first quarter of 2004 with its 2009 second quarter vacancy rate at 3.1 percent and remained above 3.0 percent in the second quarter. The slow recovering economy has weakened demand for industrial space in all parts of Los Angeles County. The Downtown area saw its industrial vacancy rate decrease by -0.1% year-to-year, Mid-Cities increase by +1.9%, San Fernando Valley by +0.2% and the San Gabriel Valley decreasing by -0.5 percentage points over the second quarter of last year. Finally, the South Bay area industrial vacancy rate slightly increased in the second quarter when compared to the second quarter of last year.
[View Graph] [View Graph - By Area]
Source: Grubb & Ellis (http://www.grubb-ellis.com/research/reports.aspx)
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Film Production Days (Quarterly) 
Second Quarter 2010: 11,335 production days
Second Quarter 2009: 9,795 production days
Total film production days in Los Angeles County increased by +15.7 percent in the second quarter of 2010 from the first quarter of 2009. Production increased for all categories including commercials (+34.2 percent to 1,614 days), television (+1.2 percent to 4,169 days) and feature films (+10.8 percent to 1,558).
[View graph]
Source: FilmL.A. (http://filmlainc.com/html/data.html) and Santa Clarita Film Office (http://www.santa-clarita.com/cityhall/cd/ed/film/office.asp)
Figures represent permitted days of location filming in the City of Los Angeles, unincorporated Los Angeles County, West Hollywood, Diamond Bar, Santa Clarita, South Gate, Angeles National Forest, and Los Angeles Unified School District facilities.
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