According to a recent economic outlook prepared by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), some of the best business prospects for Southern California include: tourism, international trade, technology, and aerospace. Some of the worst: health services, apparel industry, and motion picture/TV production. "The economy of Southern California is on a growth track in 2004, but the state's poor business environment will limit job growth in the area," said Jack Kyser, LAEDC chief economist and senior vice president. "Moreover, many of the new jobs created will tend to be in lower wage occupations."
New home construction in the region will ease back a little from 2003, which in most cases was the strongest performance since 1990. "However, the region's population continues to grow, so the 'housing deficit' will remain a problem," said Kyser. "There is concern about a housing 'bubble,' but interest rates are forecast to increase moderately over the next two years, while the economy will be healthy. This is a much different situation from the early 1990s."
The five-county forecast (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura) reveals that the area has a diverse economic base, which is not generally well-recognized. "In 2003, the Los Angeles metro area was the nation's largest manufacturing center (based on employment); Orange County ranked 9th, the Riverside-San Bernardino area was 17th and San Diego County placed 19th," Kyser said. "In fact, the average manufacturing employment in Southern California's six counties of 953,000 jobs last year would rank the area second in the nation if it were a separate state, after California and ahead of Texas."
Posted by gandlwoods at March 8, 2004 08:37 AM