AMGEN HELPS STRONG ECONOMY.Byline: David Greenberg The creator of this article, or someone who has substantially contributed to it, may have a conflict of interest regarding its subject matter. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Staff Writer East Ventura County's economy will remain bullish over the next five years, analysts said Thursday as they brushed aside concerns that a shortage of affordable housing could derail de·rail intr. & tr.v. de·railed, de·rail·ing, de·rails 1. To run or cause to run off the rails. 2. high tech firms' recruitment efforts. With Amgen leading the pack of high-tech companies showing massive growth this year, average salaries are expected to soar by $4,000 to $46,000 in Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. and by $2,000 to $36,000 in Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. by the end of 2000. ``East Ventura County is really driving the economic growth of Ventura County,'' said Bill Watkins This article is about the baseball manager. For the Seagate CEO, see Bill Watkins (Seagate). William Henry Watkins (May 5 1858 - June 9 1937) was a Canadian manager in Major League Baseball for the Indianapolis Hoosiers, Detroit Wolverines, Kansas City , executive director of the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). at Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. Economic Forecast Project. ``There's almost nothing that could go wrong for the rest of the year. Christmas could completely fail, and it still wouldn't be that bad of a year.'' Analysts at a forecasting seminar, the first focusing solely on East Ventura County, said the area's economic strength is partly a tribute to Amgen, responsible for most of the 6,000 new jobs generated in Thousand Oaks since 1998. The pharmaceutical giant increased its work force by 36 percent - growing from 3,523 to 4,800 jobs - in the past year alone. But while analysts said many of those jobs are high-paying, questioners said skyrocketing housing prices and the countywide 1 percent vacancy rate for apartments are dissuading people from working in the area. Housing advocates said the shortage will get worse when the effects of the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources slow-growth initiatives kick into gear. ``Affordable housing is the key to sustained growth,'' said Stephen Boggs, division president of Westlake Village-based Standard Pacific Homes. ``There's some real sticker shock Sticker shock is a United States term for the feeling of surprise experienced by consumers upon finding unexpectedly high prices on the price tags (stickers) of products they are considering purchasing. in east county - more so than any other part of the county. It makes it very difficult to attract the high-quality employee that these high-tech businesses need.'' The population growth of 2.4 percent in the area last year - from 303,383 to 314,685 - exceeded the overall Ventura County rate and also the Los Angeles County rate. Analysts said median property values are expected to reach $298,000 in Thousand Oaks and $243,000 in Simi Valley by the end of the year. Asked about workers who can't afford to live in the area, Watkins said, ``People have demonstrated a willingness to drive a very long way to work.'' |
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