June 04, 2015
City News Service
Continued improvement in the national construction and automobile industries, along with rising consumer demand, will translate into lower unemployment in California over the next 18 months, according to a UCLA economic forecast released this week. The UCLA Anderson Forecast says California will see employment growth of 2.5 percent this year, 2.1 percent next year and 1.3 percent in 2017.
“We expect California’s unemployment rate to be insignificantly different from the U.S. rate at 4.9 percent during the forecast period and employment growth to then be constrained by the growth in the U.S., immigration and natural growth in the working-age population,” senior economist Jerry Nickelsburg wrote in his California economic forecast.
He said the state’s unemployment rate will hover around 6.2 percent for the rest of the year then fall through next year, averaging about 5.2 percent. By 2017, the California unemployment rate will be around 5 percent, roughly the same as the national figure, according to Nickelsburg.
Nickelsburg notes in the report that ongoing economic expansion has led to a spike in long-term unemployment.
“This roughly corresponds to the decline in manufacturing, the shrinkage of a construction sector bloated by the housing bubble, and the changes in the finance, legal and professional services sector,” he wrote.
He noted that the younger set of long-term unemployed still have potential to “move their skill sets into expanding sectors,” but people who are late in their careers “do not have too many potential years left to recoup the cost of obtaining new or enhanced skills and therefore their incentives are much lower.”
But Nickelsburg states in the report that California job creation “continues to be widespread.”
“In the 12 months ending April 2015, the top sectors in job creation were health care and social services, leisure and hospitality, administrative services, professional technical and scientific services, construction, retail and wholesale trade,” he wrote.
On the national front, senior economist David Schulman wrote in his analysis that despite a “weather-induced” bump in the road during the first quarter, the U.S. economy remains on track for 3 percent growth in the GDP by the third quarter, with the pace continuing through next year.
“In this environment, the unemployment rate will drop below 5 percent, inflation will move above 2 percent and the Fed will embark on a gradual tightening process starting this September,” Schulman wrote.
He said the money that has been saved by consumers by the drop in gas prices has not trickled into the retail market.
“Simply put, instead of spending, it appears that cash-strapped consumers are paying down debt and increasing their savings,” Schulman wrote.
May 28, 2015
City News Service
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti this week signed an $8.6 billion budget for 2015-16, calling it the result of an “unprecedented collaboration” between the City Council and the mayor’s office. The Los Angeles City Council this month adopted the spending plan, which takes a step toward restoring the ranks of city firefighters depleted through a five-year hiring freeze. The budget increases the Fire Department’s budget by $55 million, and includes a revision by the council that adds $4.5 million to hire a total of 270 firefighter recruits, more than the 180 recruits this year.
The council’s revisions also include about $6 million for fire safety equipment and technology upgrades, and other fire department services. The budget also provides more funding for the police department, including $70 million for overtime, $4.5 million to purchase 7,000 body cameras and $500,000 to reduce fingerprinting backlog. More sidewalks are expected to be repaired next year, thanks to a recent $1.4 billion settlement of several lawsuits lodged by disabled residents and advocates.
As part of the terms, the city agreed to spend about $31 million a year toward programs for fixing broken sidewalks, with the adopted budget calling for $21 million to be spent in the coming year. The budget also includes $9.1 million for cleaning streets and alleys and placing 1,200 trash cans around the city, as well as an expanded $6.5 million budget for tree-trimming. The spending plan sets aside $10 million in the city’s affordable housing trust fund to create more homes for low-income residents.
The budget assumes revenues will be up about 5.5 percent, including property tax, sales tax and hotel tax revenue. It also assumes that about 20,000 city workers will agree to no raises and many will pay a bigger percentage of their health-care costs, but talks with city employee unions have dragged on since their contracts expired last year. The budget sets aside about $300 million in a “rainy day” reserve fund.
May 14, 2015
City News Service
A majority of Los Angeles County voters support raising the minimum wage for home-care workers to $15 an hour, according to a poll released recently by the union representing the workers. The poll, based on a survey of 750 “likely voters” from across all five county supervisor district, found that more than 70 percent of respondents support raising the current hourly wage of $9.65 for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) workers.
“These results echo the sentiments that are being felt throughout the state, and the nation — workers should earn a wage that allows them to afford basic necessities like food, clothing, and rent,” said Ruth Bernstein of EMC Research, the firm that conducted the poll. “L.A. County residents agree that $9.65 is not enough to survive on and home care providers deserve to make more.”
The poll also found that voters believe IHSS workers should not have to rely on government assistance for basic necessities. According to union officials, 81 percent of L.A. County home care workers live in poverty.
“As the cost of everything around us is on the rise, it is critical that home care workers are lifted out of poverty,” said IHSS provider Vanessa Pena. “We need a pathway to $15 an hour so that we’re able to provide for our families while doing this important work that we love to do. Simply put, we can’t survive on $9.65.”
Wages were last raised to the current $9.65 mark in 2012, when the county approved a 65-cent increase. Members of the Service Employees International Union-United Long Term Care Workers marched through downtown Los Angeles in April as part of a major contract negotiation campaign termed We Care L.A. The county is in the midst of a series of public meetings to discuss the possibility of raising the minimum wage for all workers in the county. The city of Los Angeles is considering a series of options, including one that would raise the wage to $13.25 an hour by 2017 and to $15.25 an hour by 2019.
May 07, 2015
City News Service
Responding to complaints that thousands of gallons of water were emptied out of the Eagle Rock Reservoir and allowed to flow into storm drains during a severe drought, the Department of Water and Power announced on Wednesday it will work to recapture water that might otherwise be lost during future repair projects. During work to replace a corroded water pipe in March, DWP crews drained about 70,000 gallons of water. The water gushed down Eagle Vista and Hill drives, upsetting residents who have been pressured by the city to conserve.
Some took to social media to complain to Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents the Eagle Rock area. Huizar said he immediately called DWP officials, who sent out trucks to collect the rest of the water draining out of the reservoir. He said some residents “saw the value” of the water and even rushed out with buckets to collect some of the water, using it to wash their cars or irrigate their lawns and roses.
Huizar and DWP officials said the utility has changed its “standard practice” of dumping water as part of its daily water pipe repair work. The water will instead be recovered and injected into the sewer system to be treated, used to irrigate city parks and golf courses or simply put back into the water system, officials said.
The old practice of releasing the water during repairs “simply does not make sense anymore” amid the ongoing drought and a statewide mandate issued by Gov. Jerry Brown to reduce water use by 25 percent.
“To just dump drinking water into the ocean is in contradiction to everything we are doing to get people to conserve water,” Huizar said. “If we as a city are asking residents to conserve water, we should be doing the same as well.”
Under state water reduction regulations approved late Tuesday, the city of Los Angeles will need to contribute to the overall statewide goal by reducing the city’s water consumption by 16 percent. Marty Adams, who heads the DWP's water operations, thanked Eagle Rock residents today, saying the utility “realized right away that we were sending a mixed message.”
Adams said that while water is released as part of normal repair work, “what we do with that water is really up to us.”
“And so today we’re making a decision to do something different with the water than what we’ve done in the past, and that's to put it to the highest beneficial use we can,” he said.
Adams said the department will not be able to save every drop that might leak out during repairs, but crews will do the best they can to capture most of it. The new policy could save the DWP “millions of gallons” of water, Adams said.