With County Unemployment Lowest in A Decade, More Jobs Growth is Predicted for Pasadena

An economic report released last week brings good news for Pasadena with figures indicating that job growth is on the rise and unemployment is at its lowest point since 2007 county-wide. The buoyant figures, however, belie the fact that the growth is in lower paying jobs, according to local economic experts.

The report, issued by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., offers a positive outlook for Pasadena that is expected to bring a range of opportunity for both employers and employees.

“We think it’s a valuable report and it gives us something to compare ourselves to,” said City of Pasadena Economic Development Manager Eric Duyshart.

L.A. County’s unemployment shrunk to 5.1 percent last year, according to the report, with Pasadena’s unemployment rate even lower at a healthy 4.2 percent.

Jobs experiencing a growth curve in Pasadena are in industries like healthcare, general admin and professional sectors, leisure and hospitality and science and technology sectors, according to Duyshart.

“Those are things that we are strong in, and those are the sectors that we have strengths in several employers, but are also confirmed to be the job growth industries of the future for L.A. County. We see that diversity here in Pasadena as an affirmation that we’re above average when compared to other communities,” said Duyshart.

County job growth has been positive since 2011 with an annual average of 2.0 percent since 2012, according to the report.

“We’re expecting more job growth in the City of Pasadena, especially when we finish the projects that we have in our pipeline — [especially] with hotels, because hospitality is one of the sectors that’s really growing,” said Pasadena Chamber of Commerce Board Chair Ishmael Trone.

However, Pasadena Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Paul Little points out, more jobs doesn’t always mean better paying jobs.

“It’s not a replacement exactly, job for job, because the jobs we lost were higher skill and higher paying jobs. It’s good that the unemployment numbers are down, but it would be much better if they were down because people were finding higher paid jobs,” said Little.

According to the LAEDC, the county lost about 90,000 manufacturing jobs with an average annual wage of $52,000 since 2007.

“That’s a huge challenge and it’s very unfortunate,” said Duyshart about the job growth producing an abundance of lower paying jobs versus higher paying ones.

“We are as a society, not just in Pasadena, but in California and nationally, losing these higher skilled better jobs,” Duyshart added.

During the same time period, the county also gained about the same number of positions, but they were primarily in low paying jobs such as food service and hospitality that produce an average wage of about $20,000 a year.

“The availability of higher paid employment in L.A. County and California is getting less likely and we are seeing it in college grads who aren’t able to get a job that will pay the rent. That’s going to have potentially long term impact on the economy here,” said Little.

In an effort to divert this trend of low paying jobs dominating the job market, the LAEDC is pushing for a five-year strategic plan.

“Even though the unemployment rate is low right now there are many people that are underemployed and working multiple jobs in some cases. That’s something that is not an easy fix and it is something that we have to pay attention to and that’s why at least the report acknowledges that. It gives policy makers something to work toward,” said Duyshart.

“There are policy shifts occurring nationally between the healthcare sector and what Caltech and JPL do — you have to at least be concerned about what that could mean for people here,” Duyshart added. “I would say that is a serious thing we have to pay attention to. If something happened there, we would be at a higher percentage of unemployment than L.A. County,” Duyshart explained.

LAEDC officials recently announced they have raised more than $1 million from a dozen institutions in support of a “Strategic Plan for Economic Development” that intends to help create higher-paying jobs and make the region more business-friendly by preparing the workforce for skilled positions.

“We need to hire locally so that the revenue continues to circulate within our city instead of outsourcing all of the jobs that we are creating in Pasadena. That’s a concern,” said Trone.

According to the LAEDC, the plan’s goals include strengthening the area’s export-oriented industries to create jobs; becoming more business-friendly; removing barriers to infrastructure development; building more livable communities; and increasing “global connectedness.”

“We also have to be mindful of what the minimum wage is doing out there to employers hiring less people and hiring older people instead of people that are entering into the work force right now,” Trone added.

According to Little, it’s too early to tell how the recent minimum wage increase has and will affect Pasadena’s economy.