L.A. County tops in factory jobs
Businesses have many reasons to leave, but a skilled labor pool helps retain many of them.
By Walter Hamilton
October 23, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bizeconomy23oct23,1,3716162.story?track=rss
Despite the decrease in manufacturing overall, manufacturing is still an important part of the local economy. L.A.'s competitive advantage lies with its highly-skilled labor force and proximity to harbors. The local manufacturing industry challenges are the cost of land, lack of zoned industrial land/low vacancy rate, overregulation and the lower cost of producing goods overseas.
Taken by itself, Southern California's manufacturing base would rank third among states, after California as a whole and Texas. Los Angeles County is the nation's largest manufacturing center, with 462,300 jobs, topping Chicago by more than 72,000.
Manufacturing generally churns out well-paid middle-class jobs with good benefits, especially in Southern California, which often tends to have higher-skilled positions, experts say. The top sector in Los Angeles County, for example, is computers and electronic products, the economic group said.
