Riverside County surpasses pre-recession economic employment peak

Nearly 100,000 more people are working in the Inland Empire than before the Great Recession, with the emerging fields of healthcare and professional/management/scientific joining an already-strong logistics sector in driving gains in job creation that are expected to continue into 2017, according to a new report being released Thursday.

The wave of job creation includes sectors that were hit especially hard by the economic downturn, including construction and manufacturing. As a result, the Inland region’s economy and job market are now well ahead of where they were before the Great Recession, and more improvement is expected in the coming year.

“There is every reason to anticipate growth levels similar to those of 2016, given the forces impacting the key sectors that make up the Inland region’s economic base,” said economist John Husing, who prepared the report for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG).

In-depth economic analyses covering each of the six counties comprising SCAG – including Riverside and San Bernardino counties -- will be formally released on Thursday, Dec. 1, at the Seventh Annual Southern California Economic Summit at the L.A. Hotel Downtown.

The Summit, sponsored by SCAG and the Southern California Leadership Council, will include discussions on improving the economic viability of local communities, attracting new businesses and industry clusters, and how our region can become a bigger force in the innovation economy. More than 400 business and elected leaders are expected to attend.

Overall, the Inland Empire has created nearly 240,000 jobs since the Great Recession bottomed out. The two-county region now has 96,798 more employment opportunities than were available at the pre-recession high of the job market.

“This report confirms what many people living in Inland Southern California have seen and felt in the past year – our region has bounced back in a big way,” said Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey, a member of the SCAG Regional Council. “We still have work ahead of us, of course, but the Inland area is once again driving job creation across the basin.”

For Riverside County and the Inland Empire, five industry sectors are driving economic growth, including two new areas:

Healthcare: One of the fastest-growing career fields in Riverside County, healthcare jobs are growing as a result of a shortage of healthcare workers, a growing – and aging – population and an increased number of insured people as a result of the Affordable Care Act. The sector is expected to add 4,335 jobs in the Inland Empire in 2017.

Professional, management and scientific work: This sector is emerging as an economic force, prompted by rising educational attainment, a growing need for professional service providers to support other industries and the demand for engineers as the construction sector re-emerges. The sector is expected to add 1,021 jobs in the Inland Empire 2017.

Logistics: Goods movement continues to be a strong driver in the Inland area, accounting for 23.3 percent of jobs created in the Inland Empire from 2011-2016. Long a backbone of the two-county economy, in 2017, the sector is likely to create another 11,221 jobs.

Construction: This sector is regaining its status as a major driver of the local economy “given its undeveloped land and Southern California’s need for single-family homes, industrial facilities and infrastructure,” the report stated. Though still below its pre-mortgage crisis peak, from 2012-2016, the sector gained back 31,305 jobs and should add another 5,500 in 2017.

Manufacturing: Manufacturing is expected to add 2,879 jobs in the Inland Empire in 2017, which is still below its pre-recession peak, an indicator of a bigger statewide regulation challenge. Since 2010, California has accounted for only 4.3 percent of the 802,000 manufacturing jobs created in the United States.

Hasan Ikhrata, Executive Director of SCAG, said the Economic Summit is an opportunity to look at new directions the six-county region can take to improve its economic viability. Recommended areas of focus should include affordable housing, a continued emphasis on higher-paying jobs, and increased college attainment.

“The innovation economy, in particular, offers great promise for our region,” Ikhrata said. “Taking advantage of that requires commitment and collaboration involving business, government and the education community. The Summit is a platform for that discussion. What happens after that will determine our success.”