03/29/2024

News

Blue-collar blues in the Southern California job market

But arguably the biggest problem facing Southern California is seen in the decline in higher-paying blue-collar jobs, which long provided opportunity for newcomers and working-class people. With an estimated 348,000 industrial jobs, Los Angeles retains the biggest manufacturing workforce in the nation. But industrial jobs are up sharply nationwide, while L.A. has lost 6.8 percent […]

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Southern California bosses hire faster than the rest of the state but hand out smaller raises

Southern California job growth outpaced the rest of the state as 2017 ended, while local wages grew slower than others in California. This comes from a quarterly job study by federal employment trackers based on detailed worker-by-worker data filed by employers. It’s typically a better snapshot of hiring and wage trends than monthly estimates released […]

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The horrors of Marxism not so clear to America’s young

Polls of millennials show consistently that economic issues, such as jobs and college debt, are their dominant concerns. Issues like transgender rights, or climate change, may motivate the media and denizens of university hothouses, but for most young people more critical are those that impact their lives in a more immediate way. The current ruling […]

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Southern California’s foreign-owned businesses jump above 10,000, employ 428,000

Southern California is home to 10,378 foreign-owned businesses that employ 427,954 workers and generate nearly $27 billion in annual wages, according to a report from World Trade Center Los Angeles. The study, compiled in partnership with Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy and sponsored by American Airlines, says those employees represent 5.4 percent of the […]

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Looking beyond one-party rule in California

As in the 1960s, California’s economy appears relatively buoyant. Yet the state’s post-recession resurgence has been greatly skewed to one region — the Bay Area — and benefited a relatively small group of people. The rest of the state largely has stagnated economically, with no appreciable income growth adjusted for costs. With weakness in higher-paying […]

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California to become first U.S. state mandating solar on new homes

The new energy standards add about $25,000 to $30,000 to the construction costs compared with homes built to the 2006 code, said C.R. Herro, Meritage’s vice president of environmental affairs. Solar accounts for about $14,000 to $16,000 of that cost, with increased insulation and more efficient windows, appliances, lighting and heating accounting for another $10,000 […]

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California not the model for America it thinks it is

Today in the Trump era, California remains a frontier, but increasingly one that appeals largely to progressives. “California,” recently suggested progressive journalists Peter Leyden and Ruy Teixeira, “today provides a model for America as a whole.” To them, California remains the “harbinger” of “new America” and “the most active front” in the battle to exterminate […]

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Southern California pay hits record highs as workers get more hours

Southern California’s weekly wages have hit record highs with old-fashioned help: workers getting extra work. The pay peaks were revealed in regional pay data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis showing that local bosses are upping how long workers are on the clock as well as hourly pay. My trusty spreadsheet tells me […]

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Southern California’s growing demographic dilemma

But even among the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, the Los Angeles-Orange County region’s growth rate last year dropped precipitously — .19 percent — less than one third the average for the country’s 53 largest metro areas. By itself, Los Angeles’ rate was even lower, an insignificant .13 percent. Overall, L.A.-Orange County ranked lower than all […]

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Opinion: California’s city halls must take action on pensions

California’s pension problems are far from over. Even with the pension reforms of 2012, cities across the state will have to contend with mounting fiscal burdens for years to come, according to a League of California Cities report published earlier this year. In dollar amounts, city pension contributions are expected to grow by roughly 50 […]

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Is this the end for the neoliberal world order?

Some of Trump’s actions, notably the proposed tariffs, may be crude and even wrong-headed but other moves, notably focus on China’s buying of American technology assets, expose the fundamental weakness of the neoliberal trade regime. Trump’s policy agenda would never have risen if neoliberalism was able to improve the lives of the vast majority of […]

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Opinion: California’s housing crisis and the density delusion

Once seen as a human-scale alternative to the crowded cities of the past, California’s cities are targeted by policy makers and planners dreaming of bringing back the “good old days,” circa 1900, when most people in the largest cities lived in small, cramped apartments. This move is being fronted by well-funded YIMBYs (“yes in my […]

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California’s drought restrictions on wasteful water habits could be coming back — this time they’ll be permanent

Anyone caught wasting water in California may be fined as much as $500 under new rules being considered by the state water board, officials said Monday. The State Water Resources Control Board is expected to adopt regulation coming before the board on Feb. 20 that would make it a crime to commit any of seven […]

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What jobs will and won’t be needed in California’s future

The job market in Southern California could look very different by 2021 and beyond. Here’s where the jobs will and  won’t be.

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Opinion: California’s coming youth deficit

The youth deficit also seems to be spreading to the post-millennial generation. Due, in part, to a dearth of new families, California’s new generation is actually shrinking the potential workforce. Between 2013 and 2025, the number of high school graduates in California is expected to fall by 5 percent, while Texas, Florida and North Carolina experience gains of near 10 percent or more. With a shrinking birthrate, as well as diminished immigration, the L.A. region could experience a continual decline in its workforce.

These trends should alarm employers and businesses who depend on growth in workers and consumers. A rapidly aging population, by its very nature, adds less to economic growth and innovation, while spending less on housing and consumer goods. Southern California politicians, seemingly more obsessed with sporting events and climate change than economic reality, need to address the fundamental housing and employment issues undermining our demographic future.

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