More L.A. folks staying put

The Census Bureau has come out with a slew of population estimates and they're being sliced and diced in all directions. The L.A. angle: The county population in 2009 was at 9.85 million, up from up from 9.78 million in 2008 and 9.54 million in 2000. Also, the L.A. metro area lost about 80,000 people to other places from July 1, 2008 to July 1, 2009, about a third of its annual loss in mid-decade. Meanwhile, growth in many of the nation's retirement areas has slowed down. The implication is that the recession has more folks are working more years. From AP:

"Baby boomers helped fuel housing and population growth in retirement areas earlier in the decade, and now they are playing an important role in the decline," said Mark Mather, associate vice president of the Population Reference Bureau, who analyzed the retirement figures. In the next few years, the number of older workers will increase by 11.9 million, making up nearly 1 in 4 workers by 2016 as more seniors hold onto jobs due partly to shriveled home values and decreased stock portfolios.

It's the sort of information that progressive governments would use to plan future needs, whether it's health care, education, traffic whatever.