Tag Archives: LA County

Re-Opening of Local Eateries

One by one, region by region, industry by industry, counties in the US are re-opening.  Los Angeles County now has a variety of eateries to choose from where diners can even eat in. the re-launch has not been without its challenges – especially with the riots and local curfews – and thus some restaurants  have opted to remain closed.  Still others need to work out how to re-open as they had laid off staff, have to get used to the new rules and thus are not quite yet ready.

Time will tell how successful it will be.  There is still much economic uncertainty as well as cumbersome protective clothing which could make going out to eat a less attractive option.

The other issue restaurant owners are talking about is the fear that the guidelines are not clear/strict enough for their comfort levels.  Still, even with all of this it is nice to see some kind of return to normalcy.

Job Market in LA

employeesThere is both good and not-so-good news for the job market in Los Angeles. The good news is that, according to figures from the state Employment Development Department, last month – for the first time in eight years – unemployment figures in LA County plummeted (from 6.1 the previous month to 5.9 percent). One reason given for this drop was “holiday retail hiring,” which resulted in substantive job gains. This is definitely a welcome change from the 13.2 percent figure of unemployment LA County encountered in 2010.

Indeed, an additional 5,500 jobs were added by California employers in November. However, it seems this figure is not to be celebrated as usually it is more. These job increases were actually the lowest one month jump in over four years and marked a big decrease from the 40,600 job gains the area enjoyed in October.

In terms of industries it seems that the best place to get a job is in construction (due to a rebound from the housing crash), as well as very high paying industries such as accountants, architects, engineers and lawyers. The industries that encountered losses were financial services, logging, mining, and manufacturing.