Inland Empire Could Lose 11,000-18,000 Jobs This Year - Housing Tracker

Quote of the Day

“It's very embarrassing.” - Astoria Homes President Tom McCormick, whose company is at the top of the list of property owners with unpaid taxes in Clark County in Las Vegas. (Astoria owes taxes on 1,300 properties in the county.) McCormick said it’s the first time ever that the company has missed a property tax payment, but “that’s what happens in a credit crunch, when banks stop lending construction financing.” (Las Vegas Review Journal, May 24th)

Macro Effects of the Housing Slump

Where the Financial Crisis is Headed Next. “Sy Jacobs, Founder, JAM Asset Management: I spent a week recently in California, visiting some troubled, or soon-to-be-troubled, banks. With home sales down so much, construction lending is becoming a problem. You have a lot of developers and home builders stuck with homes that aren't moving. And they are sitting on lots that have loans against them. Subprime is such a small piece of the banking industry, but construction lending is a core product. If the housing market stays weak for much longer -- and it seems to be getting weaker -- construction-loan losses are going to be a big problem.” (Barron’s, May 26th)

Toughest Summer Job This Year Is Finding One. “Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston research paper: “Little more than one-third of the 16-19-year-olds in the US are likely to be employed this summer, the smallest share since the government began tracking teenage work in 1948. That is a sharp drop from the 45% level of teenage employment reached in 2000. The rates among minority young people have been particularly low, with only 21% of African-Americans and 31% of Hispanics from the ages of 16-19 employed last summer, according to the Labor Department.” (NY Times, May 25th)

SOUTHERN NEVADA ECONOMY: Unpaid Property Taxes Mount. “Statistics from Clark County Treasurer Laura Fitzpatrick show big gains [51.2%] in parcels with unpaid property taxes… when compared [with] a year ago. What's more, 2.3% of the county's [delinquent] properties… were in arrears, compared with 1.4% a year earlier. That's $51 million -- plus $7.7M in penalties and interest -- Clark County property owners still owe for fiscal 2007-2008, which runs from July 1-June 30… Fitzpatrick: “I think the numbers are certainly reflective of the economic challenges that we've seen over the last several months. Builders, developers and investors certainly have had a difficult time, as have some of the individuals experiencing challenges with (exotic) mortgages." (Las Vegas Review Journal, May 24th)

Inland Area Predicted to Lose 11,000 Jobs. “Cal State Long Beach economists: Crippled by the downturn in the housing market and a broader nationwide economic slowdown, the Inland region's economy in 2008 will be one of the worst on record. The region will lose nearly 11,000 jobs this year, as the effects of the housing slowdown ripple through the region's employment market, shedding jobs in construction and at factories and stores. Though stark, the report is somewhat more optimistic than earlier forecasts by local economists, one of which said the region would lose nearly 18,000 jobs this year.” (Big Builder Online, May 22nd)

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Comments

[fatcat:]

Judy,your articles are a simple way for me to see the re market around the country. While its very informative, its also very disturbing,but thats not your fault.Thanks..

2008 May 26 01:10 PM

[SA Editor J...:]

Glad it's useful-- thanks!
Judy

2008 May 26 03:01 PM

[fg144331:]

I live in the Inland Empire, THANK HEAVENS I'm not supporting a family now. Looks like we have some suffering to do yet........Reg Gas now mostly over $4.03 and saw Diesel $5.07 yesterday, that will trickle down to us all in food prices. May get back to my lil veg garden

2008 May 27 09:01 AM

[jjason:]

JUDY, How about a weekend where no one in the US buys any gasoline? For example, my girlfriend and I stayed home on the Memorial day weekend. We spent time on our hobby...gardening. We are organic gardeners and we use no fertilizer, weed killer or bug killer. We compost everything organic. We have a free supply of grass clippings, horse manure and leaves and worms do all the work to create excellent soil.

I learned all these things as a Boy Scout growing up in New York City in the 1950's. I am now 65, retired and read your page and Seeking Alpha every day to keep myself informed about the financial world.

Thanks for the articles.

2008 May 28 05:02 AM

[SA Editor J...:]

Dear jjason,

Now that sounds like the good life...

Thanks for the kind words,

All the best,

Judy

2008 Jun 01 01:28 AM

[Inland Empi...:]

We've had absolutely no problem finding employees. Wow, I have been receiving 100s of resumes for a single job posting. The workers are out there...the jobs are not. Lets hope this turns around fast.

We've started Inland Empire Jobs, the premiere destination for finding (and posting) full time jobs and part time jobs in the Inland Empire. To combat the extremely high prices of other job boards and to help out those in need during this economic downturn.

2008 Nov 17 08:30 PM