Los Angeles County Business Scan

The Kyser Center for Economic Research

Overall Outlook - Last Updated June 9, 2009

Click on any indicator for more details. Blue highlight : Recently updated

The unemployment rate for Los Angeles County reversed its upward trend by falling to 11.0 percent (SA) in the month of April. Nonfarm employment had job reductions totaling -167,900 from April 2008. Year over year employment losses were evident in nearly all of the major employment sectors; health services was the only exception. April container traffic at both the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach increased; aggregate container traffic for both ports stands -19.0% below last year. The demand for construction permits for single family housing decreased by -51.7% year-over-year and permits for multi-family housing actually plunged by -85.2%. Median Home values in Los Angeles County continued to slide (-31.0%) on an annual basis, now similar to 2002 price levels. Home values did slightly increase from March to April. Passenger traffic at the combined L.A.-area airports continued to decrease year-over-year, down by -4.7% in April.  Revenue per available hotel rooms (REVPAR) in February showed a year-over-year decline (of -22.7%). The industrial vacancy rate in Los Angeles County increased in the first quarter of 2009 from the same period in 2008. Total film production days in Los Angeles County increased in the first quarter of 2009 from a year earlier as well.

Unemployment Rate *Updated*

April 2009: 11.0 percent
April 2008:   5.9 percent

The Los Angeles County unemployment rate (SA) decreased in April. The county unemployment rate did not increase for the first time since March 2007. LA County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was the same as California’s rate (11.0 percent) in April. California’s unemployment rate has consecutively increased year-over-year every month since March of 2007.

[View graph]

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

top

Construction Employment *Updated*

April 2009: 127,000 employees
April 2008: 149,200 employees

Los Angeles County construction employment decreased by -14.9 percent in April 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.

top

Technology Employment *Updated*

April 2009: 90,300 employees
April 2008: 94,700 employees

Technology employment in Los Angeles County decreased by -4.7 percent in April from the same period last year.  The decrease in jobs from a year earlier were found in all areas; computer and electronic product manufacturing (down -4.2 percent to 52,100); in software publishing (down -10.5 percent to 5,100); computer systems design and related services (down -3.8 percent to 27,800); and in internet services (down –7.0 percent to 5,300). Technology employment has shown a consecutive year-over-year decrease since January 2007.

[View graph]

Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
Technology is comprised of NAICS codes 334, 5112, 5118, and 5415.

top

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Employment *Updated*

April 2009: 292,600 employees
April 2008: 305,000 employees

Professional, scientific, and technical services employment (including computer systems design and related services) in Los Angeles County decreased by -4.1 percent in April from 12 months earlier.  Employment in this sector has decreased year-over-year every month since January 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).

top

Finance and Insurance Employment *Updated*

April 2009: 147,500 employees
April 2008: 159,000 employees           

Finance and insurance employment in Los Angeles County in April decreased by -7.2 percent from a year earlier.  April marks a thirty 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.

top

Health Services Employment *Updated*

April 2009: 350,300 employees
April 2008: 344,100 employees

Health services employment in Los Angeles County increased by +1.7 percent in April from a year earlier.  This was the only industry sector to show an increase in employment during the first four months of 2009. Employment decreased in health care (-1.0 percent to 400,400), while pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employment remained at 6,100 employees over the same period.    

[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.

top

Fashion/Apparel Production and Wholesale Employment *Updated*

April 2009: 77,600 employees
April 2008: 86,100 employees

Fashion industry employment in Los Angeles County in April decreased by -9.9 percent from a year earlier with a total of 77,600 employees.  Jobs decreased in both textile mills (-9.7 percent to 8,400) and apparel manufacturing (-13.6 percent to 48,400).  Apparel wholesaling employment remained at 20,800 jobs. 

[View graph]

Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
Fashion employment is comprised of NAICS codes 313, 315, and 4243.

top

Ocean Container Traffic

April 2009: 0.941 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs)
April 2009: 1.162 million TEUs

Container traffic at the combined Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in November fell by -36.0 percent from a year earlier. It was the fifth consecutive month that the combined ports recorded under a million TEUs.

April was another month where year-over-year decreases in total container traffic at the combined ports took place; there hasn’t been an increase in TEU activity since July 2007. Loaded inbound containers had the largest decrease, plummeting by -21.5 percent to 478,245 TEUs last month from a year earlier.  Loaded outbound containers decreased by -18.3 percent to 253,805 TEUs from a year earlier; it was the seventh month displaying a decrease after a consecutive forty-four month increase.  Empty containers were down by -13.9 percent in April, reaching 208,779 TEUs compared to the 245,462 TEUs from the same period in 2008.

Container traffic decreased in April at both the Port of Los Angeles (-12.1 percent to 532,124 TEUs) and more severely at the Port of Long Beach (-26.6 percent to 408,705 TEUs) from 12 months earlier. The Port of Los Angeles recorded its third consecutive increase in loaded export containers, down by -0.04 percent to 140,829 TEUs when compared to the previous 12 months. The Port of Long Beach experienced its eighth consecutive year-over-year decline in loaded export containers (-30.9 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)

top

Airport Passenger Traffic *Updated*

April 2009: 5.291 million passengers
April 2008: 5.550 million passengers

Passenger traffic for the combined LA County airports of Burbank, Long Beach, and Los Angeles decreased in April by -4.7 percent from 12 months earlier.  April marked the fourteenth consecutive month of year-over-year decreases in passenger volume.  Passenger traffic decreased by -10.4 percent at Burbank (to 407,716) and by -4.7 percent at Los Angeles (to 4.64 million), but increased by +8.8 percent at Long Beach (to 241,862).

[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

top

Single Family Housing Construction Permits *Updated*

April 2009: 203 permits
April 2008: 420 permits

Single family housing construction permits in Los Angeles County decreased by -51.7 percent in April from a year earlier.  Single family housing construction permits have experienced year-over-year decreases every month since August 2006. 

[View graph]

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

top

Multifamily Housing Construction Permits *Updated*

April 2009:   111 permits
April 2008:   750 permits

[View graph]

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

top

Median Existing Home Prices *Updated*

April 2009: $300,690
April 2008: $435,500

The median price of existing homes in Los Angeles County decreased by -31.0 percent in April from a year earlier.  LA County median home prices have had consecutive year-over-year decreases every month since September of 2007.  The median price in April was slightly higher than that of March 2009 ($300,000). 

[View graph]

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

top

Hotel Revenue per Available Room (REVPAR)

February 2009:  $ 102.83 REVPAR
February 2008:  $ 132.97 REVPAR

Hotel revenue per available room (REVPAR) in Los Angeles County decreased by -22.7 percent in February from the same month a year earlier.  This marks the sixth consecutive decrease after a long period of monthly increases. REVPAR had increased year-over-year in LA County every month from June 2003 to August 2008 (61 months) with the exception of May 2007 (which was down by -1.4%). Hotel occupancy rates were down by -13.8 percentage points from February of last year, reaching 67.8 percent occupancy (marking the tenth consecutive month of year-over-year declines).  February average daily room rates fell by -10.3 percent from the same period in 2008, dropping to $151.67.    

[View graph]

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

top

Industrial Vacancy Rate

First quarter 2009: 2.7 percent
Fourth quarter 2007: 1.6 percent

The Los Angeles County industrial vacancy was above 2.0 percent for the third time since the second quarter of 2006 with its 2009 first quarter vacancy rate at 2.7 percent.  The slowing economy weakened demand for industrial space in all parts of Los Angeles County. The Downtown area saw its industrial vacancy rate increase by +1.1% year-to-year, Mid-Cities by +0.4%, San Fernando Valley by +0.3%, South Bay by +0.7% and the San Gabriel Valley had the largest rise in industrial vacancy, increasing by +2.6 percentage points over the first quarter of last year.

[View Graph] [View Graph - By Area]

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

top

Film Production Days (Quarterly)

First quarter 2009: 11,642 production days
First quarter 2008: 11,488 production days
Total film production days in Los Angeles County increased by +1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009 from the first quarter of 2008.  Production decreased for feature films (-55.5 percent to 929) and commercials (-35.2 percent to 1,276 days), but increased for television (+79.3 percent to 6,423 days).

[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.

top