A report released Wednesday by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. paints a mixed picture of Southern California’s manufacturing sector in 2005, noting it is still the nation’s leader despite continued jobs losses and the increasing scarcity of industrial land.

Los Angeles and the six other Southern California counties account for 916,000 jobs, making it the largest manufacturing region in the country as measured by employment, with even more jobs than any other state. Texas, the No. 2 industrial state nationwide, has nearly 900,000, while California as a whole has 1.5 million manufacturing jobs.

However, California is still loosing jobs at a faster rate than any other state, the report said. Since 1990, the state has lost a staggering 454,000 jobs, with Los Angeles County alone accounting for more than half of those losses (341,000); since 2001, the county has lost more than 100,000 jobs. The closest state in terms of job losses is New York, with just over 400,000, followed by Ohio with 342,000.

Most of the country’s major manufacturing hubs also experienced job losses in 2005, the report found, with the exception of Houston, Dallas, Seattle, Phoenix and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Among the key problems highlighted by the report: Industrial property is becoming more and more difficult to find for Southland companies. When compared to the fourth quarter of 2000, all of Los Angeles County’s submarkets saw their vacancy rates cut nearly in half in 2005. In the fourth quarter of 2000, for example, Central Los Angeles had a vacancy rate of 3.3 percent, compared to 1.3 percent last year. Vacancy rates for all of L.A. County are the lowest of all other Southern California counties, at 2 percent.

The report also predicts more job losses in 2006 about 8,500, with 5,000 of those in L.A. County.