L.A. County’s economic recovery will pick up steam over the next 18 months as the county sees a gain of 41,000 payroll jobs this year and another 63,000 jobs next year, according to a forecast released Thursday morning from California State University Long Beach.
With the exception of government, every major employment sector will see improvement this year and next, according to forecast authors Joseph Magaddino and Lisa Grobar. The most robust growth will be in entertainment, business and professional services, healthcare and education services. Entertainment-related employment is expected to grow 5 percent this year, following a whopping 12 percent growth last year.
Other areas like wholesale and retail trade will see slower growth, while manufacturing employment is expected to be flat over the next two years.
The improving jobs situation is expected to lead to a rebound in taxable retail sales, with a growth rate of 6.6 percent this year. That’s good news for local government coffers, which have endured three years of tumbling revenues.
