MANUFACTURING POWER COUNTY LEADS NATION IN INDUSTRIAL SECTOR.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

In spite of years of job losses, Los Angeles County's manufacturing sector remains the strongest in the nation, according to a report released today.

According to the study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., manufacturers employ 470,400 workers, stretched across industries as diverse as aerospace, fashion, cars and biomedical device production.

On a broader scope, Los Angeles and the five surrounding counties have such a huge manufacturing base 915,900 jobs that the region by itself outpaces every other state in the country.

While the county will likely shed another 5,000 jobs this year, the study's authors noted that the sector remains a key part of the region's economy.

"We've sort of walked away from manufacturing, but it's very important to focus on it," said Jack Kyser, co-author of the report and chief economist for the LAEDC, a private, nonprofit business development group. "It creates middle-class jobs and revenue for cities and local governments."

And those jobs aren't even necessarily reflected in employment data, the report found, as many small manufacturing companies don't show up in government surveys and larger employers often rely on temporary workers to complete orders.

Kyser will present the data today at the Westec 2006 Exhibition and Convention, an annual trade show hosted by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. The companies presenting there still keep money flowing in the regional economy, he noted, so government and regional planners shouldn't ignore them when it comes to redevelopment.

This has been a hard sell in years past, as planners hungry to capture sales tax revenue have approved conversion of industrial land to shopping centers. While projects like Burbank's Empire Center, partially on the site of the former Lockheed assembly site, or The Plant in Van Nuys, converted from General Motors' shuttered factory, have proved successful at bringing in commerce, they also take up prime land that will likely never go back to manufacturing sites that offer good wages and benefits to blue-collar workers.

Compounding the problem, the increased value of residential land has led developers to seek out former industrial sites to build apartments, condos and homes.

"If we're not careful, we'll fall out of balance in our rush to create homes, schools and parks," said Bill Allen, LAEDC's president and chief executive officer. "They're all desperately needed, too, but we have to make sure it doesn't come at the expense of the jobs that will pay for them."

Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith, who represents the Northeast San Fernando Valley, has begun formulating a strategy in recent months to protect industrial property to provide for future economic expansion. Similarly, the Valley Economic Development Center has developed a strategy to create and retain small manufacturers that can make products that cannot be easily outsourced, such as high-tech machines or quickly fabricated merchandise.

"If it continues to get bought out or zoned out, we'll become a retail and service economy," said Jenni Kwon, director of economic development for the Van Nuys-based VEDC. "If we can protect and maintain more property for manufacturing and come up with incentives to keep those jobs here, it'll only help the local economy."

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, chart

Photo:

(1 -- color) Kenneth Foulks demonstrates a machine made by Haas Automation at the Westec 2006 Exposition and Conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The Oxnard-based company is the largest machine tool builder in North America.

(2) L.A. County leads the nation in manufacturing, according to a study presented today at the Westec 2006 convention, an annual trade show by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

Chart:

Making jobs

SOURCE: U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Gregg Miller/Staff Artist