The ups and downs of L.A. manufacturing

Yes, it still exists. Actually, L.A. County remains the top manufacturing center in the country, with a workforce of 389,300 (as of 2009). The five-county Socal region has more folks employed in manufacturing than in the traditionally industrial states of Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that the recession has taken its toll. As outlined in a report by the L.A. Economic Development Corp., L.A. County lost almost 74,000 manufacturing jobs between 2006 and 2009, a 16 percent drop. NY fared a bit worse, Detroit a lot worse, and Dallas and Minneapolis a shade or two better (chart below). Of course, the downturn in L.A. goes back a lot further than the recession. From the report:

The largest manufacturing sector in Los Angeles County in 2009 was Computer and Electronic Products with 51,323 jobs, down by -28% over the past decade. The Apparel sector had the second highest number of employees, with 48,107 jobs, followed by Transportation Equipment, Fabricated Metal Products, and Food. The sectors suffering the largest employment declines over the past decade were Computers & Peripherals (-65.6%), Furniture (-58.2%) and Textile Product Mills (-54.0%)

State/Area 2006 2009 %Change
1 Los Angeles ‐15.9%
2 Chicago ‐16.4%
3 Houston +0.5%
4 Detroit ‐31.7%
5 Minneapolis ‐13.2%
6 Dallas ‐14.4%
7 Seattle ‐4.3%
8 San Jose ‐8.9%
9 New York ‐18.5%
10 Orange County ‐15.0%