Los Angeles County Economy

USC research faculty give mixed grades to Southern California's economic, social and physical conditions in a second annual report card to be released Tuesday. The survey by USC's Southern California Studies Center finds hopeful trends about the job market but raises serious concerns about housing costs and decaying infrastructure. "All things considered, we are doing pretty well economically. However, some of the clouds on the horizon are troublesome.

The Special Olympics will have a significant economic benefit for Los Angeles, according to a study released Thursday. The games being held in the summer of 2015 will generate at least $415 million in economic activity for the county, according to the study by a research firm working for the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. The games are expected to draw more than 7,000 athletes and 500,000 spectators to the Los Angeles area, according to the Special Olympics website.

The Los Angeles area still may be a glamour capital, but as a place to make money, its status is fading fast. An analysis released Wednesday by UCLA business analysts ranked Los Angeles County only 100th among 318 U.S. urban areas in personal income. It found that the county's per capita personal income was $26,773 in 1998, the most recent year for which federal figures are available. Although the personal income of Los Angeles County residents climbed 4.

The Los Angeles County economy should begin recovering by mid-2003, but the rebound will be a weak one, according to a forecast to be released today by Chapman University. Chapman economists expect employers in the county to begin adding jobs again this year after a loss of 18,200 payroll positions in 2002. But the gains will be paltry -- only about 3,000 jobs, or 0.1% growth -- and probably not enough to stop the county's unemployment rate from rising. The jobless rate was 6.2% in December.

Despite a sharp drop-off in the nation's economic growth next year, Los Angeles County should create more jobs in 2001 than this year, garnering a greater share than some of its neighboring counties, economists at Cal State Fullerton said Wednesday. In their annual forecast, the economists said Los Angeles County's economy appears to have gained momentum this year, while growth in its neighboring counties has slowed.

The Los Angeles County economy should begin recovering by mid-2003, but the rebound will be a weak one, according to a forecast to be released today by Chapman University. Chapman economists expect employers in the county to begin adding jobs again this year after a loss of 18,200 payroll positions in 2002. But the gains will be paltry -- only about 3,000 jobs, or 0.1% growth -- and probably not enough to stop the county's unemployment rate from rising. The jobless rate was 6.2% in December.

Visitors to Los Angeles County spent $11.9 billion last year, racking up a 5% year-over-year increase in revenue even as total tourism rates declined because of international economic turmoil, local travel industry officials said Wednesday. Last year marked the seventh straight year tourist spending has grown in the region, according to statistics from the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The New Economy may be headquartered in the West, but the nation's wealthiest counties are still concentrated in bastions of old money in the East. In a study released Tuesday, researchers found that 20 of the wealthiest counties, as measured by per-capita income, are east of the Mississippi, mostly on the East Coast. Three Bay Area counties made the top 25, but Southern California was far down the list, according to a survey by the Washington market research firm Woods & Poole Economics.

After weathering the worst recession since the Depression and enduring massive job losses, Los Angeles County's economy is slowly recovering, even in the hard-hit aerospace industry, the chief economist of a business-backed group said Tuesday. The county economy "has hit bottom" but "is headed in the right direction," Jack Kyser of the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles County told the Board of Supervisors. "We think it will keep going in 1996 and 1997 . . .

Sacre bleu! A weak euro coupled with a healthy Southern California economy helped propel the Golden State past France to rank as the world's fifth-largest economy if it were a separate nation, according to a report released this week. Figures from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. placed the 2000 gross state product at $1.33 trillion, just ahead of France at $1.28 trillion, and behind the United Kingdom at $1.42 trillion. In 1999, France ranked No.

If the economy were a game show, Southern California's counties might turn to Los Angeles and say: "You are the weakest link." In the business world, though, there is no bullying master of ceremonies to pronounce judgment. Instead, statistics tell the story: The L.A. core has been losing its middle class and providing fewer opportunities for its poor, low-skilled residents. Neighboring counties are gaining good-paying jobs and attracting growth industries such as high technology.

Calling it a crisis of "enormous human dimensions," local tourism officials project Los Angeles County will lose 41,000 jobs and $2 billion in travel spending because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. About 40% of the county's unionized hotel workers, or 3,500 people, already have been thrown out of work or seen their hours reduced as hotels scramble to slash costs in response to the plunge in visitors. Industry veterans who have watched L.A.'

The business disruptions created by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have brought Los Angeles County and the state to the brink of a mild recession, a local economic forecaster said Monday. Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said the county and the state are likely to shed jobs through the end of the year. His comments reflected a downward revision of a forecast he issued just two months ago.

Home values in Los Angeles and Orange counties continued growing at a vigorous pace last month, led by sharp gains among moderately priced houses, according to a report released Tuesday. Sales of homes in Los Angeles County also exceeded expectations as consumers brushed aside concerns about the sluggish economy to take advantage of low mortgage rates. Analysts said the latest results suggest that the region's housing market will hold up well during the peak summer home-buying months.

Sacre bleu! A weak euro coupled with a healthy Southern California economy helped propel the Golden State past France to rank as the world's fifth-largest economy if it were a separate nation, according to a report released this week. Figures from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. placed the 2000 gross state product at $1.33 trillion, just ahead of France at $1.28 trillion, and behind the United Kingdom at $1.42 trillion. In 1999, France ranked No.

A drop in business and leisure travel led hotels in Los Angeles County--particularly high-end properties--to post increasingly lower occupancy rates through the first three months of this year, according to an industry survey. The report by PKF Consulting in Los Angeles reflects a weaker economy that could lead to higher vacancy rates into the summer, tourism officials said Wednesday.

Economists and business leaders opposed to the "Buy American" measure on Tuesday's ballot say its passage could drive away foreign investment needed to help rebuild Los Angeles after the riots. "We simply cannot afford this measure now because we need all the allies we can get," said David Friedman, an attorney with the law firm Tuttle & Taylor and research fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Japan Program.

Thanks to a vibrant and diverse economy that is creating an abundance of low-skilled, entry-level jobs needed by people coming off welfare, Los Angeles County is expected to weather the economic disruptions that will inevitably result from the end of federal funding for public assistance. And the county's economy should continue to grow strongly, despite the burdens placed on it, because it enjoys prominence in several industries that are among the fastest growing in the world.

A new economy is emerging in the 26 communities from Long Beach to Vernon known as the Gateway Cities, but not without doubts and anxieties over what it means for the quality of life--and work--in the area. It's an economy heavily based on international trade, which continues to grow at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. And it's an economy that will be spurred and changed by the nation's largest public works project, the $2.

Despite a sharp drop-off in the nation's economic growth next year, Los Angeles County should create more jobs in 2001 than this year, garnering a greater share than some of its neighboring counties, economists at Cal State Fullerton said Wednesday. In their annual forecast, the economists said Los Angeles County's economy appears to have gained momentum this year, while growth in its neighboring counties has slowed.