In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation's (LAEDC) latest report showed more than 2.6 million jobs at high or medium risk in the Los Angeles area.
When crisis befalls our region, having access to current, relevant and actionable information is helpful to all of us who want to play a role in helping the region get through this, Bill Allen, CEO of LAEDC, told Xinhua Tuesday.
The LAEDC website explains its mission as working with business, education and government partners to collectively advance opportunity and prosperity for all local residents.
The health and economic crisis we are facing are unprecedented in our lifetimes and the added burden of being socially-distanced makes it all the more challenging, Allen said, referring to the COVID-19 outbreak.
On Monday, LAEDC shared the latest report from its Institute for Applied Economics (IAE), which crunches regional data on labor statistics, unemployment, business registrations, manufacturing, taxes, trade, import export, population demographics and any other pertinent variables needed to arrive at a better understanding of the current state of Los Angeles economy and workforce and their near-term future prospects.
Like many other places on earth, near-term prospects for LA are grim.
Shannon Sedgwick, director of IAE, laid out the broad strokes, explaining that a typical recession is usually a demand-side problem where consumer demand decreases over an extended period of time. But this economic disruption is a demand- and supply-side problem, occurring simultaneously and almost instantaneously.
Sedgwick said that the initial impact has been felt mostly by the tourism and hospitality and entertainment industries, but the longer the 'stay-at-home' order has to continue, the larger the negative effect will become as a massive decrease in consumption impacts other industries.
As unemployment claims in all of California already topped a million two weeks ago with no end in sight, LAEDC summarized the job loss risks in the report in details.
At highest risk are 1.123 million jobs in the entertainment, recreation, arts, accommodation, food services, tourism, personal care services, and retail trade categories. These industries are the heart blood of Los Angeles and comprise 25 percent of Los Angeles area jobs.
The next category, high risk, includes trade, construction, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and accounts for 934,200 local jobs, or 21 percent of the workforce.
Meanwhile, 585,460 jobs are at medium risk in the real estate and leasing, professional, scientific and technical services and mining, oil and gas extraction categories.
Sedgwick also revealed that there are 1.82 million jobs considered low risk, predominantly in the healthcare and social assistance, company management, agriculture, forestry, fishing hunting, educational services, waste management, financial activities, and government and public administration categories.
The high risk job loss also showed that demographic factor played a key role in local economy. From San Fernando, Antelope Valley, West LA to San Gabriel, the loss rate is estimated to range from 42.5 percent to 47.2 percent, while job losses in the largely Hispanic and African American neighborhoods in East LA, South LA and South Bay areas are projected to soar to 50 percent or 60 percent.
Victor Ortega is a part-time floor layer and moving van day worker who immigrated to Los Angeles from Mexico 10 years ago. He finds jobs on a day-by-day basis that typically allows him to scrape by on 500 U.S. dollars per week. But now he is staring a bleak future in the face as day jobs for Hispanics dry up.
He told Xinhua, with tears in his eyes, This is so bad! What about my family? How can I feed them? What can I do?
Hispanics make up 56.3 percent of the hotel and hospitality industry and 48.6 percent of the food and drink industry -- both decimated by the coronavirus outbreak. Caucasians make up 45.4 percent of the entertainment industry, also torpedoed, while Asians average out at 15.8 percent of jobs across the board in the high risk categories, with African Americans at 8 percent.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)