Los Angeles County Business Scan

The Kyser Center for Economic Research

Overall Outlook - Last Updated April 28, 2008

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* Recently updated

The Los Angeles County unemployment rate increased in March from 12 months earlier; however, the rate remained below the state rate.  The slowdown in housing construction continued to be visible in the decrease of construction jobs.  Employment in most white collar and technical industries continued to grow in March.  Container traffic at the combined Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles decreased in March; however, loaded outbound container traffic continued to post strong year-over-year increases.  Demand for construction permits for both single family and multifamily housing decreased in February from a year earlier.  The median value of homes in Los Angeles County dropped in March to the lowest level in nearly three years.  Passenger traffic at the combined L.A.-area airports increased year-over-year in February.  Revenue per available hotel rooms (REVPAR) continued to climb in January.  The industrial vacancy rate in Los Angeles County (the tightest market in the country) remained unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2007 from a year earlier.  Total film production days in the County decreased in the fourth quarter of 2007 from a year earlier and was also down for the entire year. 

Unemployment Rate *Update*

March 2008: 5.8 percent
March 2007: 4.8 percent

March was the tenth consecutive month that the Los Angeles County unemployment rate increased from a year earlier.  The rate for March was the highest since January 2005 (5.9 percent).  The County’s unemployment rate was below the California rate of 6.2 percent in February.  The County’s unemployment rate has remained below or equal to the state rate for 25 consecutive months.

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Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)

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Construction Employment *Update*

March 2008: 147,000 employees
March 2007:  158,400 employees

Los Angeles County construction employment decreased by -7.2 percent in March compared to a year earlier.  March marked the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year decreases in construction employment in the County.  March’s construction employment total was the lowest since August 2005 (142,900).     

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Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
Construction is comprised of NAICS code 23.

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Technology Employment

December 2007: 106,300 employees
December 2006: 103,800 employees

Technology employment in Los Angeles County increased by +2.4 percent in December from 12 months earlier.  Year-over-year increases in jobs were recorded in computer and electronic product manufacturing (+1.5 percent to 60,100), computer systems design and related services (+4.9 percent to 27,600), and software publishing (+4.9 percent to 6,400).  Employment in internet services was unchanged from a year earlier at 12,300. The year-over-year increase in technology jobs in the County in December was the largest since August 2006 (+2.5 percent). 

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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 *Update*

March 2008: 248,700 employees
March 2007: 247,700 employees

Professional, scientific, and technical services employment (excluding computer systems design and related services) in Los Angeles County increased by +0.5 percent in March from 12 months earlier. Jobs in this sector have increased year-over-year every month since April 2004. 

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Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
Professional, scientific, and technical services is comprised of NAICS codes 54 (except 5415).

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Finance and Insurance Employment *Update*

March 2008: 160,500 employees
March 2007: 168,400 employees        

Finance and insurance employment in Los Angeles County in March decreased by -4.7 percent from a year earlier.  March marked the fifteenth consecutive month of year-over-year decreases in finance and insurance employment.  The year-over-year decrease in March was the largest since December 1996 (-4.9 percent).  The amount of finance and insurance jobs in the County in March was the smallest since August 2002 (160,200).

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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 *Update*

March 2008: 339,500 employees
March 2007: 333,900 employees

Health services employment in Los Angeles County increased by +1.7 percent in March from a year earlier.  Employment increased in both health care (+1.6 percent to 333,500) and pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing (+3.4 percent to 6,000) over the same period.     

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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 *Update*

March 2008: 86,600 employees
March 2007: 87,800 employees

Fashion industry employment in Los Angeles County in March decreased by -1.4 percent from a year earlier.  Jobs decreased in apparel manufacturing (-1.5 percent to 57,600) and residual textile mills (-6.1 percent to 9,300) but increased in apparel wholesaling (+1.5 percent to 19,700) over the same period.  Apparel wholesaling employment has increased year-over-year since November 2005.

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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 *Update*

March 2008: 1.082 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs)
March 2007: 1.171 million TEUs

Container traffic at the combined Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in March decreased by -7.6 percent from a year earlier.  Year-to-date (YTD), container traffic decreased by -6.7 percent to 3.399 million TEUs from the same period in 2007.  

March was the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year decreases in total container traffic at the combined ports.  The traffic of loaded outbound containers has increased year-over-year every month since January 2005. 

Container traffic decreased in March at both the Port of Long Beach (-7.9 percent to 498,114 TEUs) and the Port of Los Angeles (-7.3 percent to 583,923 TEUs) from 12 months earlier.  YTD, container traffic fell by -7.4 percent (to 1.549 million TEUs) at the Port of Long Beach and by -6.1 percent (to 1.850 million TEUs) at the Port of Los Angeles compared to the first three months of 2007.    

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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 *Update*

February 2008: 4.993 million passengers
February 2007: 4.914 million passengers

Passenger traffic for the combined Burbank, Long Beach, and Los Angeles airports increased in February by +1.6 percent from 12 months earlier.  Passenger traffic increased at Burbank (by +5.8 percent to 431,289) and at Los Angeles (by +1.3 percent to 4.363 million) but decreased at Long Beach (by -1.0 percent to 199,247) over the same period. 

Note: Regular passenger traffic at LA/Palmdale Regional Airport started in June 2007.  Passenger traffic total for flights to and from LA/Palmdale are included in the figures for Los Angeles.

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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 *Update*

March 2008: 356 permits
March 2007: 870 permits

Single family housing construction permits in Los Angeles County decreased by -59.1 percent in March from a year earlier.  Single family housing construction permits have experienced year-over-year decreases every month since August 2006. 

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Source: Construction Industry Research Board (http://www.cirbdata.com/)

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Multifamily Housing Construction Permits *Update*

March 2007: 444 permits
March 2008: 1,720  permits

Multifamily housing construction permits in Los Angeles County decreased by -74.2 percent in March from 12 months earlier.  The number of permits issued in January was the lowest since March 2003 (342).  January was the ninth consecutive month that permits decreased year-over-year.     

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Source: Construction Industry Research Board (http://www.cirbdata.com/)

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Median Existing Home Prices *Updated*

March 2008: $431,950
March 2007: $580,960

The median price of existing homes in Los Angeles County decreased by -25.6 percent in March from a year earlier.  March was the seventh consecutive month that median home prices decreased from a year earlier.  The year-over-year decrease in March was the largest in percentage terms ever recorded since the data series began in January 1979.  The median price in January was the lowest since March 2004 ($391,740). 

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Source: California Association of Realtors (http://www.car.org/)

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Hotel Revenue per Available Room (REVPAR) *Update*

February 2008: $132.97 REVPAR
February 2007:  $127.18 REVPAR

Hotel revenue per available room (REVPAR) in Los Angeles County increased by +4.6 percent in February from a year earlier.  Occupancy rates decreased by -1.5 percent to 78.7 percent from 12 months earlier while average daily room rates increased by +6.2 percent to $169.00 over the same period.  REVPAR has increased year-over-year in the County every month since June 2003. 

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Source: PKF Consulting (http://www.pkfonline.com/)

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Industrial Vacancy Rate

Fourth quarter 2007: 1.5 percent
Fourth quarter 2006: 1.5 percent

The Los Angeles County industrial vacancy rate has remained below 2.0 percent since the second quarter of 2006.  The County’s industrial market is one of the tightest markets in the country.  The industrial vacancy rate in Central Los Angeles remained below 1.0 percent for the second consecutive quarter.

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Source: Grubb & Ellis (http://www.grubb-ellis.com/research/reports.aspx)

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Film Production Days (Quarterly)

Fourth quarter 2007: 13,353 production days
Fourth quarter 2007: 14,001 production days

Total film production days in Los Angeles County decreased by -4.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007 from the fourth quarter of 2006.  Production decreased for feature film production (-5.4 percent to 1,976) and commercials (-12.0 percent to 1,587 days) but increased for television (0.9 percent to 5,500 days).  
For the 12 months of 2007, film production days in the County decreased 1.2 percent (to 55,490) from 2006.  Feature film production days decreased (by -6.1 percent to 8,365) as did commercial production days (by -0.9 percent to 6,797).  Television production days increased (by 12.4 percent to 23,657) during the same period.

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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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