Jobs to grow in L.A., but not as fast as Orange County.

When it comes to jobs, any growth L.A. can have, Orange County can have better.

A new report shows that the number of jobs will rise by 3.7 percent in Orange County this year, compared to a projected 2.6 percent for L.A. County.

"In every area of employment, our job formation is stronger than L.A.," said Chapman University economist Esmael Adibi, who prepared the study.

Construction employment, for example. is projected to increase by 9.4 percent in Orange County, compared with 3.9 percent in Los Angeles.

High-tech job growth is expected to hit 3.6 percent in Orange County this year and 2.5 percent in L.A.

But Adibi and others noted that, as a more mature economy, Los Angeles doesn't have the room to grow that Orange County has. Los Angeles, with nearly 4 million workers, is three times the size of Orange County.

And while its percentage growth may be smaller, the actual number of jobs created in L.A. will be larger - 101,000, compared with 44,900 for Orange County.

"They're younger, and they're smaller," said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Economic Development Corp. of L.A. County. "In order to create jobs at a 3.8 percentage rate (which Orange County did last year), we'd literally have to create 150,000 new jobs a year, which is a pretty healthy target, to put it mildly."

Kyser also noted that Orange County recovered from the recession more quickly than L.A. County.

"The eye of the economic storm in California was in L.A. County," he said. "They talk about the great California recession. Beg your pardon, it was the great L.A. County recession," Kyser said.

The finance, insurance and real estate industries have seen their importance diminish in the Los Angeles economy, from 6.7 percent of the workforce in 1988 to 5.6 percent in 1998, according to figures from Chapman and the state Economic Development Department. Those sectors lost 50,000 jobs in the past 10 years; the loss can be attributed to the recession of the early 1990s and consolidation in the banking sector.

The most significant change appears in the wholesale trade industry. L.A.'s wholesale workforce has declined from 7.4 percent in 1988 to 6.8 percent in 1998, while Orange County's workforce in this area has increased from 6.2 percent to 7.6 percent.

Retail-trade employment is similar in both counties, but with a higher percentage of Orange County's market in this area, 17.6 percent, compared with 15.3 percent in L.A.

That both have fallen as a percentage of the workforce suggests that retailers are doing more business with fewer employees.

In both counties, federal employment has declined as a percentage of the total workforce, from 1988's 1.4 percent for Orange County and 1.8 percent for L.A. to a projected 1.0 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, for 1998.

Los Angeles Business Journal staff reporter Jill Rosenfeld contributed to this story.