While southern California is home to the nation’s largest population of information workers and manufacturing workers, as well as the third-largest business and professional sector, Los Angeles, ranked only 43rd out of the nation’s 71 largest metros in Forbes’s annual “Best Places for Jobs” survey. The city’s employment has only grown by 5.7% over the past ten years, while Dallas, which has ranked No. 1 for the past two years, has grown its employment at six times LA’s rate.
LA’s professional and business positions have only grown by 8% since 2012, compared to 20-30% increases in places like Austin, Dallas, and San Francisco, and its information jobs fell 3% last year after a decade of growth.
However, according to Newgeography’s Joel Kotkin, the biggest problem is the ongoing decline in high-paying blue-collar jobs. As industrial job numbers rise nationwide, L.A.’s manufacturing positions have fallen 6.8% over the past five years and 46% over the last two decades.
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