SOUTHLAND'S ECONOMY COULD CATCH UP TO BAY AREA'S.Byline: E. Scott Reckard Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Southern California's energized economy should pull even with or ahead of Northern California's this year, a longtime watcher of the state economy predicts. The reason is broad strength in the south and the cooling of Silicon Valley's hot streak in the north, said David Hensley, a regional economist at Salomon Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . and former head of UCLA's Business Forecasting Project. The computer and semiconductor industries have lost momentum, and the 5 percent growth rate in Silicon Valley has given way to layoff notices or hiring freezes at many companies, Hensley said. ``While displaced workers may find work at other firms, the overall pace of job growth in the key technology sector certainly will be slower in 1996 compared to last year,'' Hensley said in a report to investors. ``Southern California could move in front. Or what you could see is a convergence, the economies doing about the same. I'd say the latter is more probable right now,'' Hensley said in a telephone interview from New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . The state's 1995 economic recovery was broad-based by sector and geography, with solid gains in services, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and manufacturing. As growth slowed nationally, most of California's metropolitan areas grew faster than 2 percent, including Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego County, with especial es·pe·cial adj. 1. Of special importance or significance; exceptional: an occasion of especial joy. 2. strength in Sacramento and Silicon Valley. Hensley said Southern California's recovery has puzzled many investors who believed the region's fortunes were fettered fet·ter n. 1. A chain or shackle for the ankles or feet. 2. Something that serves to restrict; a restraint. tr.v. fet·tered, fet·ter·ing, fet·ters 1. To put fetters on; shackle. to the aerospace industry. Actually, Hensley said, Southern California's economy is too big and well diversified to be carried by any one industry, though defense downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing has helped put it in a tailspin tail·spin n. 1. The rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep, spiral spin. 2. Informal A loss of emotional control sometimes resulting in emotional collapse. for much of this decade. ``Instead, a host of small stories - international trade and finance, money management, tourism, entertainment, multimedia, computers, software, biotechnology, medical care - is contributing to a broad-based economic expansion,'' he wrote. |
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