Article by Deborah Belgum
According to data compiled by U-Haul International Inc., 3.1 percent more families moved out of the county than moved in between Memorial Day and Labor Day, considered the busiest time of the year for relocating. Some economists consider U-Haul's figures a leading indicator of migration trends.
During the like period a year ago, the county received a net gain of 8.9 percent as L.A. became the No. I destination for laid-off San Francisco tech workers looking for jobs down south.
The No. 1 destination for those leaving L.A. this year was San Diego, followed by Las Vegas and San Bernardino, U-Haul reported.
The findings jibe with state employment numbers showing that from September 2001 to September 2002, L.A. County lost 30,500 jobs, mostly in the manufacturing and service sectors, although some other sectors saw growth.
"What we are seeing is that people are being very open minded about geography because they need to be opportunistic to find employment," said Gary Kaplan, president of Gary Kaplan & Associates, an executive search firm in Pasadena.
Manufacturing in Los Angeles saw the biggest downturn, with 21,100 jobs being lost. The service industry had a 6,200-job decline and construction was off by 4,600 jobs. Jobs were added in the government sector, which had a net gain of 3,400 jobs in September 2002 over a year earlier.
Meanwhile, San Diego and Las Vegas have weathered the economic slowdown fairly well. San Diego County's unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in September and Las Vegas' rate was 4.3 percent. L.A. County had a 6.5 percent rate.
"The unemployment rate has been defying gravity," said Marney Cox, chief economist for the San Diego Association of Governments.
Sectors Hold Up
Cox pointed to a couple of bright spots in the San Diego job market. First, the area was never that popular among dot-com ventures, so it wasn't hurt that badly when the boom went bust. And biotechnology continues to be winner.
"Defense is starting to make a comeback," Cox said, noting it was declining under the Clinton administration but is being revived by the Bush administration.
Job growth in Las Vegas was seen primarily in the service sector, trade industry and government. Construction jobs were also up slightly over last year.
"The people who are leaving to areas like Nevada and other surrounding areas tend to be slightly less educated than the people coming in to Los Angeles domestically," said Hans P. Johnson, a demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California. "They usually have high-school degrees, not college degrees. Often times they are going to jobs where the pay is about the same, but the cost of living is lower."
While more people were leaving Los Angeles, the area remains one of the top destinations for those leaving the San Francisco Bay Area, where 1.8 percent more people left than arrived during the Memorial Day to Labor Day period,
according to U-Haul.
Last month, the Bay Area had 35,600 fewer jobs than during the like period a year earlier, and the San Jose metro area had 34,700 fewer jobs.
About half the job loss in San Francisco came in the manufacturing sector. The next biggest job loss category was in the service industry. Government jobs grew slightly.
"The Bay area is still in far worse shape than the Los Angeles metro area," said Stuart Gabriel, a finance professor at the University of Southern California and director of the Lusk Center for Real Estatecolor>.
Growth Areas
John Wentworth, president of Wentworth Company Inc., an executive search firm in San Pedro, was optimistic that the job market will continue to improve. "It feels to me as if things are starting to open up again," he said.
Growth this time is not coming from technology, but traditional industries that have been established for decades. "Pharmaceuticals in particular is known to be a hot industry," Wentworth said.
So is the mortgage banking industry. Countrywide Credit Industries Inc. and its subsidiary, Countrywide Home Loans, are expanding aggressively.
The company is moving into a 160,500-square-foot building in Agoura Hills and recently purchased a five-story office building in Thousand Oaks that it plans to occupy.
The health care industry is another sector that is searching for employees, particularly nurses. And the biotechnology centers around Northridge, Thousand Oaks and Valencia, home to Medtronic MiniMed Inc. and Amgen Inc., are adding workers.