With the total nonfarm payroll employment increasing by 248,000 jobs in September, the national unemployment rate continues to drop—this time by .02 of a percent to 5.9— down from 6.1 percent. And while the rate for Blacks dropped as well from 11.4 to 11 percent for adults 20 and older, and from 32.8 percent down to 30.5 percent for 16 to 19 year olds, the news still remains dismal for people of African descent.
“The unemployment figure of 5.9 percent doesn’t reflect the realities of many African Americans as [they] continue to be unemployed at over twice the rate of Whites. And if we count the workers who are marginally attached to the job market or working part-time for economic reasons, as many as 25 percent of all African Americans are under-employed,” says Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, senior director of NAACP Economic Department. “What’s worse; wages in the job sectors where African American workers are concentrated remain far below what anyone would consider a ‘living wage.’ As the NAACP embarks on our “Justice Tour” over the next month across the country and hears the economic challenges facing our community, one demand we must rally for are programs that put all Americans back to work, and instituting a wage that lets them live above the poverty line.”
Locally, the unemployment report comes as Mayor Eric Garcetti this week kicked-off the inaugural Los Angeles Innovation Week by announcing the release of the report “High Tech in L.A.” This is the first report to quantify the employment and economic contribution of L.A. County’s growing high tech sector.
According to the report, which was authored by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) Institute for Applied Economics, with the support of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Los Angeles County has more high-tech sector jobs (368,600) than Boston-Cambridge (361,400), Santa Clara County (313,300), and all five boroughs of New York City, (234,400).
The report points to the largest high tech segments as aerospace products; wholesale activities (related to high tech products); engineering services and research and development; consulting services; and computer software, design, services and online publishing. Together, these five segments account for more than 75 percent of L.A.’s high tech employment (278,100 jobs.)
Additionally, while overall employment in the county has been stagnant since 2003, employment in high-tech occupations has grown by 10 percent in the last decade. And in all other industries high-tech employment has grown by 20 percent, which is an indication, notes the report that many, if not all, industries are becoming more technology-oriented.
The report shows that the direct high-tech workforce generated $32 billion in wages in 2013, accounting for 16.8 percent of all wages paid in the county. In terms of total jobs, the high-tech sector supported 763,600 jobs in L.A., including direct, indirect and induced jobs across a broad spectrum of industries. The total economic impact, including indirect and induced jobs, accounted for $58.7 billion in labor income, $108.3 billion in value added to regional gross domestic product, and $21.8 billion in tax revenues in 2013 for federal, state and local governments.
The report also notes that high-tech jobs account for 9 percent of all employment in the county and paid wages that were on average 70 percent higher than wages in other industries.
Aside from actual payroll jobs, the LAEDC also reports that 59,500 people were self-employed in high tech industries in 2012; this is more than an 18 percent jump since 2002. Almost all of these people were service providers, either computer services, consulting services or engineering services. A large number also reported income from wholesaling activities such as online marketing for example.
Among the high-tech jobs more easily accessed with less than a four-year college degree are medical and clinical laboratory technologists, diagnostic medical monographers, web developers, and sales reps of technical and scientific products.
To view the entire report, go to the website: http://laedc.org/2014/10/06/la-tech-report-examines-regional-high-tech-ecosystem/.
