Los Angeles County Business Scan
The Kyser Center for Economic Research
Overall Outlook - Last Updated June 30, 2008
Click on any indicator for more details. Blue highlight : Recently updated
Indicator |
Most recent period |
Current reading |
Year earlier reading |
Annual % change |
Unemployment Rate |
May 2008 |
6.7% |
4.9% |
|
Construction Employment |
May 2008 |
147,900 |
158,600 |
-6.7% |
| Technology Employment |
May 2008 |
94,700 |
95,300 |
-0.6% |
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Employment |
May 2008 |
246,800 |
246,200 |
+0.2% |
Finance and Insurance Employment |
May 2008 |
159,500 |
166,6400 |
-4.1% |
Health Services Employment |
May 2008 |
340,000 |
333,400 |
+2.0% |
Fashion/Apparel Employment |
May 2008 |
85,800 |
87,400 |
-1.8% |
Ocean Container Traffic (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) |
May 2008 |
1,215,859 |
1,287,801 |
-5.6% |
Airport Passenger Traffic |
Apr. 2008 |
5,550,173 |
5,905,688 |
-2.1% |
Single Family Housing Construction Permits |
Apr. 2008 |
364 |
753 |
-51.7% |
Multifamily Housing Construction Permits |
Apr. 2008 |
1,392 |
1,496 |
-7.0% |
Median Home Prices |
Apr. 2008 |
$422,160 |
$596,690 |
-29.2% |
Revenue per Available Room (REVPAR) |
Mar. 2008 |
$128.31 |
$120.74 |
+6.3% |
Industrial Vacancy Rate |
1Q 2008 |
1.6% |
1.8% |
|
Film Production Days |
1Q 2008 |
11,488 |
14,886 |
-22.8% |
The Los Angeles County unemployment rate increased in May 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 May, albeit small increases. Container traffic at the combined Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles decreased in May; however, loaded outbound container traffic continued to post strong year-over-year increases. Demand for construction permits for both single-family and multi-family housing continue to decline in May from a year earlier. The median value of homes in Los Angeles County decreased in May from the previous month and from May 2007. Passenger traffic at the combined L.A.-area airports decreased year-over-year in April. Revenue per available hotel rooms (REVPAR) continued to climb in April. The industrial vacancy rate in Los Angeles County (the tightest market in the country) remained very low in the first quarter of 2008 from a year earlier. Total film production days in the County decreased in first quarter 2008 from a year earlier.
Unemployment Rate 
May 2008: 6.7 percent
May 2007: 4.9 percent
May was the twelfth consecutive month that the Los Angeles County unemployment rate increased from a year earlier. The rate for May was the highest since January 2005, increasing by 0.8 points from April 2008. The County’s unemployment rate was below the California rate of 6.8 percent in May. The County’s unemployment rate has remained below or equal to the state rate for 27 consecutive months.
[View graph]
Source: California Employment Development Department (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov)
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Construction Employment 
May 2008: 147,900 employees
May 2007: 158,600 employees
Los Angeles County construction employment decreased by -6.7 percent in May compared to a year earlier. May marked the tenth consecutive month of year-over-year declines in construction employment in the County. However, it is up by 700 jobs from the previous month.
[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
May 2008: 94,700 employees
May 2007: 95,300 employees
Technology employment in Los Angeles County decreased by -0.6 percent in May from 12 months earlier. Year-over-year decreases in jobs were recorded in computer and electronic product manufacturing (-0.7 percent to 55,200) and internet services (-8.5 percent to 5,400). Employment increased over the year in computer systems design and related services (+0.7 percent to 27,400) and software publishing employment also increased year ago (+1.5 percent to 6,700).
[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 
May 2008: 246,800 employees
May 2007: 246,200 employees
Professional, scientific, and technical services employment (excluding computer systems design and related services) in Los Angeles County increased by +0.2 percent in May from 12 months earlier. Jobs in this sector have increased year-over-year every month since April 2004. However, the rate of increase has slowed.
[View graph]
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
May 2008: 159,500 employees
May 2007: 166,400 employees
Finance and insurance employment in Los Angeles County in May decreased by -4.1 percent from a year earlier, and down by 900 jobs from the previous month. May marked the seventeenth consecutive month of year-over-year decreases in finance and insurance employment, reflecting the continued turmoil in the capital markets. The amount of finance and insurance jobs in the County in May was the lowest since August 2002 (160,200).
[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
May 2008: 340,000 employees
May 2007: 333,400 employees
Health services employment in Los Angeles County increased by +2.0 percent in May from a year earlier. Employment increased in both health care (+1.9 percent to 340,000) and pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing (+5.2 percent to 6,100) 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.
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Fashion/Apparel Production and Wholesale Employment
May 2008: 85,800 employees
May 2007: 87,400 employees
Fashion industry employment in Los Angeles County in May decreased by -1.8 percent from a year earlier. Jobs decreased in apparel manufacturing (-2.2 percent to 57,200), residual textile mills (-2.1 percent to 9,300), and in apparel wholesaling (-0.5 percent to 19,300) over the same period. Apparel wholesaling employment was unchanged from the past two months after experiencing year-over-year job growth since November 2005.
[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
May 2008: 1.162 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs)
May 2007: 1,259 million TEUs
Container traffic at the combined Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in May decreased by -5.6 percent from a year earlier. Year-to-date (YTD), container traffic decreased by -6.7 percent to 5.78 million TEUs from the same period in 2007.
May was the tenth 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 May at the Port of Long Beach (-12.7 percent to 529,011 TEUs) and increased at the Port of Los Angeles (+0.8 percent to 686,848 TEUs) from 12 months earlier. YTD, container traffic fell by -7.9 percent to 2.635 million TEUs at the Port of Long Beach and by -5.7 percent to 3.142 million TEUs at the Port of Los Angeles compared to the first five months of 2007.
[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
April 2008: 5.550 million passengers
April 2007: 5.906 million passengers
Passenger traffic for the combined Burbank, Long Beach, and Los Angeles airports decreased in April by -6.0 percent from 12 months earlier. Passenger traffic decreased at Burbank (by -6.8 percent to 455,070), Los Angeles (by -5.8 percent to 4.873 million), and at Long Beach (by -9.1 percent to 222,290) 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.
[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 2008: 364 permits
May 2007: 753 permits
Single family housing construction permits in Los Angeles County decreased by -51.7 percent in May 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/)
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Multifamily Housing Construction Permits *Updated*
May 2008: 1,392 permits
May 2007: 1,496 permits
Multifamily housing construction permits in Los Angeles County decreased by -7.0 percent in May from 12 months earlier. However, compared to the previous month’s construction permits, multi-family housing permits increased, up by +85.6 percent.
[View graph]
Source: Construction Industry Research Board (http://www.cirbdata.com/)
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Median Existing Home Prices *Updated*
May 2008: $422,160
May 2007: $596,690
The median price of existing homes in Los Angeles County decreased by -29.2 percent in May from a year earlier and by -30.3 percent from the peak in August 2007 ($605,300). May was the ninth consecutive month that median home prices decreased from a year earlier. The year-over-year decrease in May was the largest in percentage terms ever recorded since the data series began in January 1979. The median price in May 2008 ($422,160) was the lowest since March 2004 ($391,740).
[View graph]
Source: California Association of Realtors (http://www.car.org/)
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Hotel Revenue per Available Room (REVPAR) *Updated*
April 2008: $128.31 REVPAR
April 2007: $120.74 REVPAR
Hotel revenue per available room (REVPAR) in Los Angeles County increased by +6.3 percent in April from a year earlier. Occupancy rates increased by +1.7 percent to 77.3 percent from 12 months earlier and average daily room rates increased by +4.5 percent to $165.99 over the same period. REVPAR has increased year-over-year in the County every month since June 2003.
[View graph]
Source: PKF Consulting (http://www.pkfonline.com/)
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Industrial Vacancy Rate 
First quarter 2008: 1.6 percent
First quarter 2007: 1.8 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 very low at 1.2 percent.
[View graph]
Source: Grubb & Ellis (http://www.grubb-ellis.com/research/reports.aspx)
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Film Production Days (Quarterly)
First quarter 2008: 11,488 production days
First quarter 2007: 14,886 production days
Total film production days in Los Angeles County decreased by -22.8 percent in the first quarter of 2008 from the first quarter of 2007. Production increased for feature film production (+11.8 percent to 2,088), while television (-46.0 percent to 3,583 days) and commercials (-6.1 percent to 1,970 days) productions both decreased.
[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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