The truth about LA Job Market situation is it improving or going worst ? (2014)

[domabozo]

Some Publications claim that LA have recovered its hiring rates to the pre-recession figures and the situation is improving


While others ranks LA as one of the worst major cities to find a Job ( low creations – fierce competition )



What is the truth ?

[ccm123]

According to the April 2014 Bureau of Labor Statistics report, LA ranks 302 out of 372 metropolitan areas, in unemployment rate, at 7%

Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas

A lot of improvement has occurred in the past few years, but the unemployment rate needs to drop below 5% to be considered "full employment."

[RoaminRebel]

OP- There are lots of media outlets that claim the economy has improved (not only in LA, but the entire country). Keep in mind that once you drop off of unemployment, you are no longer counted. So when they eliminated the extensions, millions were no longer counted as unemployed. They won't talk about the increase of people on food stamps and gov't assistance. Companies are finding sneakier ways to lay people off as well so it's under the radar (firing for fabricated reasons, etc.) Another trick is creating spin off companies and then transferring all employees to be laid off to the new bogus company so they can avoid bad PR. There is one major LA employer I know of that is currently doing this.

My intuition tells me the job market is still limping along, we hire lots of people now as temps at lower wages than before. Good luck!

[coolas70degrees]

Originally Posted by RoaminRebel

OP- There are lots of media outlets that claim the economy has improved (not only in LA, but the entire country). Keep in mind that once you drop off of unemployment, you are no longer counted. So when they eliminated the extensions, millions were no longer counted as unemployed. They won't talk about the increase of people on food stamps and gov't assistance. Companies are finding sneakier ways to lay people off as well so it's under the radar (firing for fabricated reasons, etc.) Another trick is creating spin off companies and then transferring all employees to be laid off to the new bogus company so they can avoid bad PR. There is one major LA employer I know of that is currently doing this.

My intuition tells me the job market is still limping along, we hire lots of people now as temps at lower wages than before. Good luck!

Yep, great points. The unemployment rate is dropping because they have stopped counting people.

Also, it isn't just about how many jobs have been created but what kind of jobs have been created. A lot of the jobs that are being created are fast food and service industry positions. It might bring the unemployment rate down some but it isn't helping the economy because they are low wage positions.

[Rkstar71]

That depends.
Depends on the profession.
Depends on the race of the job seeker.

Depends on what credentials the job seeker has to offer an employer.

[BRinSM]

LA is a city of have and have nots for the most part. If you have limited education and no special skills, you're chances for finding a decent job are quite low. If you are educated and/or have high demand skills you should be fine. With great experience I can speak to the demand for good computer programmers. If you can code well in java or C# you should have no problems finding an $80k+ job. If you're really good $100k would be on the low end.