The CSULB Department of Economics, the Office of Economic Research and Beacon Economics presented the 2016 Regional Economic Forum on Friday, April 29 at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center.
The featured experts at the forum included: John Keisler, with the City of Long Beach Innovation Team (i-team); Jeff Fullerton, with Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate; Christopher Thornberg, with Beacon Economics; and Wade Martin, professor and chair of the CSULB Economics Department and director of the Office of Economic Research.
Councilmembers and officials were in attendance at the event, and as was Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia.
The mayor gave brief remarks at the start of the presentation, and he said the city is making slow but steadfast improvements in its labor market. He added that Long Beach is now at 5.5 percent unemployment, and the numbers are showing growth in the city’s economy.
“We do know that, from a trend standpoint, these employment numbers are headed in the right direction,” Garcia said. “That is a very good sign for the economic recovery of the city… The overall unemployment in the labor market continues to improve in Long Beach, and we hope that continues, as it has with the rest of the country.”
National economy
Thornberg said his word of the day was “miserablism” — there are indeed a lot of concerns to face, but he believes things are better than people think, and there’s no need to be pessimistic.
He gave justification to his reasoning by adding that people are asking “the wrong question,” which prevents people from receiving “the right answer.”
Thornberg said that despite some officials predicting the next U.S. downturn will hit by the year 2018, the economy is still steadily moving along. He said labor markets are strong, housing is in recovery, credit is expanding and the state of California is actually leading, and not lagging behind, the nation.
There’s a lot to be content with, but there are certainly some issues, he said. State and local budgets are still stressed, the drought is a concern, the global economy is becoming a problem and there is a local housing shortage.
Another problem is the growing minimum wage, according to Thornberg. He is against the wage because he said it does not work.
“Time after time, the minimum wage does not reduce poverty,” he said. “The benefits of minimum wage help some low-income households, but the cost of higher minimum wage lies squarely, mostly on those low-income households.”
He also said the minimum wage reduces job opportunities for the youth.
“’Gee, if I have to pay my folks $15 an hour, I’m not going to give that inner-city kid a chance,” Thornberg said. “In the end, there is a significant decrease in jobs, and the youth and low-scale workers are the ones who are most likely to fall into poverty.”
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Screen-Shot-2016-05-05-at-3.47.04-PM.png” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Denny Cristales | Signal Tribune
Councilmembers and officials were in attendance at the 2016 Regional Economic Forum on Friday, April 29 in order to gain insight on economic trends in the greater Long Beach region. ” captionposition=”right”] He also said the agriculture business is booming. California grew 1.3-million acres of hay in 2015, and, according to Thornberg, is using 75 percent of water. He said money is being wasted on manufacturing hay, as opposed to having it shipped to the United States.
Everything becomes a factor in the economy, he concluded.
“The big picture is two years of growth,” Thornberg said. “But we have a lot of challenges. Water, helping low-income households, housing, infrastructure, spending money in the right places, fixing our revenue system, so many more challenges… It’s not the end of the conversation, it’s the start of the conversation. Be out there, talk to folks, talk to your community leaders, because in the end, if your voice isn’t heard, these things aren’t going to change.”
Regional economy
Martin noted that Long Beach’s economy is consistent with the state and national trend.
Over the last year, there has been a two-percent growth, which is consistent with LA County, Martin said. There are more jobs being created, primarily in the professional sector.
“This is the skilled work force,” he said. “It’s growing year over year at about 5.6 percent. It’s a very positive sign of what’s happening to the economy here in Long Beach, and, yes, there are some sectors that yield negative growth year after year, but, overall, we’ve seen about a two-percent growth in employment.”
He also added the value of the ports has gone up. But “everything is not perfect.”
There is some “softness” in the global economy, specifically in China, according to Martin.
“There are some things going forward that we need to keep in mind and keep in consideration,” he said. “China’s growth has slowed, and with China being a major trading partner in the port, we need to be aware of it and how much of an impact it will have.”
Martin said business confidence is an important factor, adding that the optimism showed in organizations needs to be reflected in reality.
Martin also brought up minimum wage, energy prices, wealth distribution and the elections in November as factors in the economy.
Civic center
An incomplete design isn’t going to stop the civic center from breaking ground in July, according to Fullerton. He revealed that the design has yet to be completed, but, regardless, he stated that the development and planning have been moving swiftly.
“A lot of people in the traditional method will probably say that’s like heresy,” Fullerton joked. “’What are you doing? You’re getting ahead of yourself.’ But we are able to have a lot of conversations. We have been meeting with City staff two or three times a week, and we’ve been doing it for a year. We get a lot of synergy developing the plan this way. That’s one of the reasons we are able to do this quickly.”
Fullerton described the layout of the center as expressive and innovative. The construction timeline currently forecasts that City Hall, Port headquarters and the main library will be complete between 2016 and 2019, removal of the existing City Hall and Main Library will be done from 2019 and 2020, Lincoln Park will be completed from 2020 and 2021, and complete mixed-use development will conclude from 2020 and 2022.
The broad economic impact of the project will create over 6,000 jobs and have an economic output of $1.4 billion, according to Fullerton.
The i-team
Keisler said the goal of his work is to “increase the number and the size by revenue.” The i-team was launched last May with the intention to extend the City’s capacity to rapidly advance research and development of solutions through a data-driven approach.
The i-team is currently focused on identifying what the City can do to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses in Long Beach.
The i-team has three initiatives: “awareness” — which provides tools to help increase notoriety about the process that business owners go through; “access” — which connects people to resources, and allows them to take advantage of the information; and “activation” — understanding that small businesses need foot traffic and customers to grow and survive.
The team is supported by a three-year, $3-million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, and it is splitting its initiative objectives throughout the year quarterly. Keisler said that i-team has currently launched a pilot website that will help those seeking to open businesses.
He said it is designed around the user and that individuals will be able to communicate directly with people via the web and get feedback and advice.
There is no confirmed name for the pilot website, and it is currently a work in progress.
“There is an incredible opportunity for everybody in this room to work collectively and to bring Long Beach forward,” Keisler said. “We are creating a new way for the community to communicate with our businesses.”
For more information, visit csulb.edu/economics/oer or email oer@csulb.edu .
