Monday, April 26, 2010
Information Technology Bucks Downward LA Employment Trend
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its March 2010 employment numbers today, showing that the information sector was one of the only employment sectors to buck a further decline in employment in the region in March. The monthly report, which tracks the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), said that overall employment declined by 150,800 people, or 2.9 percent, compared with March of last year in the region. The Bureau said that the decline was the 27th consecutive month of over-the-year decline in the Los Angeles area. Nationally, employment numbers were better--nonfarm employment only fell 1.7 percent between March 2009 and March 2010. For Los Angeles, the information sector saw a 6.5 percent increase in employment, one of only two sectors showing year-to-year gains in employment. The only other sector gaining in employees was education, with a 1.6 percent gain. Information's gain in the LA area also countered an overall, national decline in Information sector jobs, down by 4.7 percent. All other sectors tracked by the bureau were negative, with the worst being Construction, where there was a drop in jobs by 18.4 percent versus last year.