Metro Economic Outlook: Los Angeles Like other major employment centers in the country, it has taken years for the Los Angeles area to gain back all the jobs it lost during the Great Recession. But that milestone will be reached in L.A. in 2015, and the related economic growth is expected to continue for the near future. Overall, we ve seen a big step forward in economic activity and job growth both in California and Los Angeles County, said Kim Ritter, associate economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. (LAEDC), a nonprofit entity which tracks economic activity in Los Angeles County. And that growth has been broad-based. The construction industry has been growing by leaps Unemployment rate 12 10 8 6 5.1 5.6 4 2 0 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (September 2015) LOS ANGELES METRO: VITAL STATS Total working age population: 8,224,516 out of a total population of 13,262,220 Number of households: 4,287,974 Consumer price index: 245.431 (goods and services that cost $100 in 1982-1984 cost $245.43 in September 2015) Percentage of local residents with bachelor s degrees: 21.0 With graduate or professional degrees: 11.2 Student concentration: 88.7 college students per 1,000 residents Sources: Census Bureau (2014), Bureau of Labor Statistics (September 2015), American Institute for Economic Research (2014) and bounds, Ritter said, and the professional and business services sector has also been strong, much to the approval of local economic development officials. We like to see that, because there tends to be a greater concentration of high-skill, high-paying jobs in that sector, Ritter said. Overall, I wouldn t say that we re having breakout growth, but you get the sense that momentum is building. The L.A. metro region covers Los Angeles County and neighboring Orange County. It is home to more than 13 million people and is the birthplace of an array of pop culture standards including the electric guitar, the bathing suit and the skateboard. Several high-tech innovations like the space shuttle, the Mars rover and the F-117, the first stealth fighter developed for the United States military, were also created locally. Unemployment and most CPI data updated monthly. Other data updated once annually as it becomes available.
Among the region s Fortune 500 Labor force makeup companies are entertainment Government 717.7 industry giant Walt Other services 201.8 Disney, digital Leisure and hospitality 660.5 television company Education and health services 952.8 DirecTV and Professional and business services 885.2 manufacturer Financial activities 326.8 Reliance Steel & Information 214.9 Aluminum. Trade, transportation and utilities 1072.1 Manufacturing 521.5 Two of the Los Construction 206.6 Angeles region s Total nonfarm 5761.5 major industries two-way trade and 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 tourism also had Number in thousands record-breaking Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (January 2015) activity in 2014. Container port operations in Los Angeles and Long Beach are the which would mark the fifth consecutive year of recordbreaking largest in the United States. Together they generate tourism numbers. 360,000 local jobs, and in 2014 the ports handled a new high of 15.2 million containers. Meanwhile, a record 43.4 million visitors came to Los Angeles County in 2014. The LAEDC expects that number to hit a new high of 44.2 million in 2015, 833,162, 1 1,847,701, 23% 681,197, 8% Source: Census Bureau (2014) Working age categories 1,835,890, 22% 1,010,317, 12% 2,016,249, 25% Although the bulk of L.A. s visitors come from within the United States, 15 percent of travelers arrive from international locations, Ritter said. Mexico and Canada are the top two sources of foreign tourists, but China is a close third and the number of visitors from that nation grew by 20 percent from 2013 to 2014, she said. 20 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 59 60 to 64 The local housing market is recovering, but still has its share of challenges, Ritter said. Some segments of the market have seen substantial price increases, but housing costs are also rising faster than the incomes of many residents. Things are improving here, Ritter said. When you walk around downtown, you see a lot of new construction, you see more people filming on location. We re seeing more activity overall. 2
Employee Benefits Data 25% 15% 1 5% Employers offering consumer-driven health plans 7% Employers in the Los Angeles metro area are less likely to offer consumerdriven health plans compared with the national level, by a 13 percent margin. 8 7 6 5 4 3 1 Employers offering domestic partner benefits 48% 75% They are much more likely to offer domestic partner benefits, by a 27 percent margin over the national level. Source: SHRM Health Care Benefits Database (2014) Retirement Employee 401(k) participation rate 7 6 5 4 3 62% 55% Employee 401(k) participation in the Los Angeles metro area workforce is lower than the national level, by a margin of 7 percent. 1 Source: SHRM Retirement & Welfare Benefits Database (2013) 3
Income and Turnover Data Overall turnover rate 15% 1 17% 17% The turnover rate in the Los Angeles metro area s workforce is on par with the national level. 5% Source: SHRM Human Capital Database (2014) Median household income $70,000 $60,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $53,657 $60,514 Median household income in the Los Angeles metro area is somewhat higher than the national level, by nearly $7,000 annually. $10,000 $0 Source: Census Bureau (2014) Per capita income $35,000 $30,000 $25,000 $20,000 $15,000 $10,000 $5,000 $0 $28,889 $29,918 Per capita income in the Los Angeles area is slightly higher than the national level, by about $1,000 annually. Source: Census Bureau (2014) 4
Top Management Salaries Data Median salaries, top management Top legal executive Chief information officer Top HR executive $345,600 $305,400 $285,000 $264,300 $265,200 $265,200 Median salaries for top management positions in the Los Angeles metro area are typically higher than national levels. Chief financial officer $391,500 $344,400 Chief executive officer $655,000 $618,400 $0 $200,000 $400,000 $600,000 $800,000 Source: Towers Watson Data Services 2014 Survey Report on Top Management Compensation Project lead: Joseph Coombs, Senior Analyst, Workforce Trends, SHRM Project contributors: Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, VP of Research; Jennifer Schramm, M. Phil., SHRM-SCP, Manager, Workforce Trends External contributors: Kim Ritter, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Copy editing: Katya Scanlan, copy editor This report is published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). All content is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as a guaranteed outcome. SHRM cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions or any liability resulting from the use or misuse of any such information. 2015 Society for Human Resource Management. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. These materials and the data contained within them are copyrighted by SHRM, another copyright holder (where noted), or are government-owned. SHRM hereby grants permission for users to copy and use these materials and the data contained within them only if proper attribution is given to SHRM (or the noted copyright holder) as the source of the material. For more information, please contact: SHRM Research Department SHRM Human Capital Database 1800 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA www.shrm.org/benchmarks Phone: (703) 548-3440 Fax: (703) 535-6432 SHRM Compensation Data Center Email: SHRMResearch@shrm.org www.shrm.org/research/shrmcompensationdataservice Web: www.shrm.org/research 5