There are at least three reasons why it has become important for Los Angeles to exert purposeful influence on its own economic trajectory: First, the population has grown steadily but the number of jobs in the formal economy, where employers comply with labor law, is still below the level of...

The loss of a welfare safety net for most adults for most of their lives makes the quality of jobs available to the working poor and their success in finding and keeping jobs increasingly important. The economic and civic life of the Los Angeles region will be shaped by connections that are...

For many, Los Angeles evokes images of year-round sunshine and celebrity, a dream city of wealth and possibility. Yet in reality, half of L.A. residents living in poverty are employed, showing that low wages drive poverty as much as unemployment does. The benefits and consequences of raising Los...

The report recommends an economic adjustment strategy to reduce severe job losses projected as a result of cutbacks in defense funding for Los Angeles County industries.Questions investigated include:1. What are the impacts of defense cutbacks on Los Angeles County?2. Who in Los Angeles County...

Over 54,000 workers employed in Long Beach's formal economy will be affected by increasing the minimum wage to $15. The annual earnings of workers will increase by about $405 million. The largest share of increased wages — almost $130 million — will go to workers who also live in the City of...

The 1994 Business Survey was requested by the City of Long Beach to guide and strengthen its business outreach and retention efforts. Long Beach was experiencing a high level of business distress as a result of the 1990 recession and the collapse of aerospace.The survey was sent to 908 companies...

The Economic Roundtable merged site-specific 1990 employment and emission data to analyze emissions per job among industries in the South Coast Basin. One use of this analysis is to identify environmentally friendly industries that are potential targets for economic development. The analysis...

A baseline profile of Los Angeles County industries is developed using three dimensions of sustainability: greenhouse gas emissions, social sustainability based on wages for workers, and economic viability based on size and growth, with primary emphasis on the first two factors. The metric for...

There is extensive evidence of a growing informal labor force in Los Angeles City and County, along with stagnant employment in the formal labor market. Between 2000 and 2004, the working age population in the county grew by 4.9 percent, but the number of wage and salary jobs (i.e., the formal...

New development solves housing problems for some workers by creating new jobs that pay sustaining wages. At the same time, it creates additional demand for affordable housing because some of the workers who will be employed will not earn enough money to afford market-rate rental housing. In...