Report predicts LA County will add 346,000 jobs by 2020. Los Angeles County is expected to add 346,000 jobs between 2015 and 2020 across a broad range of industries, according to a report released today.
The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.’s annual “People, Industries and Jobs” report shows that 123,000 of those jobs will be in the city of Los Angeles.
Construction, professional and business services, education and health services and leisure and hospitality will see the biggest growth rates in percentage terms. But the lion’s share of new jobs will come from administrative and support services (57,560), Food services and drinking places (39,510), social assistance (34,30) and professional and technical services (33,300).
Unfortunately, many of those jobs are low paying positions that would make it tough for someone to support a family.
On the plus side, construction is expected to add 20,900 jobs, which bodes well for both housing activity and commercial expansion.
Southern California’s construction industry took a heavy hit during and after the Great Recession, which began in late 2007 and ended in June 2009, as developers pulled back on building housing projects and commercial developments — sometimes curtailing activity altogether.
“We’ve been waiting for that industry to rebound,” said economist Christine Cooper, the LAEDC’s senior vice president and lead author of the report. “It has just been really hard.”
But the industry is rebounding and Southland developers have a variety of residential projects in the works.
KB Home, for example, has 10 housing developments underway in Los Angeles County in such communities as Santa Clarita, Van Nuys, Palmdale, Pomona, West Covina and Los Angeles.
An annual report on the company’s website shows that KB delivered 8,196 homes throughout its various U.S. markets last year compared with 7,215 the previous year and 7,145 in 2013. KB’s revenues have likewise risen, topping out at more than $3 billion last year compared with the $2.4 billion the company generated in 2014.
“As the housing market recovers, construction industries are expected to make a robust recovery,” the LAEDC report said. “Housing starts are showing signs of life after a dismal few years, and will be needed to meet pent-up demand.”
The report notes, however, that L.A. County’s economic recovery has been generally disappointing and that the region didn’t recover all of the jobs that were lost during the recession until last year. Moreover, the recovery that has taken place doesn’t take into account the job growth needed to accommodate the county’s ongoing population and labor force growth.