96% of U.S. metro areas lost construction jobs this year, research finds

Construction employment dropped this year in more than 96% of the country’s metropolitan areas, according to research released today by the Associated General Contractors of America.

Of the 337 metropolitan areas, construction-related jobs plunged in 324 regions between August 2008 and August 2009, according to an analysis of federal employment data.

The Reno-Sparks area of Nevada was the hardest hit, with a 35% dive, followed by the 33% sag in the Duluth region spread over Minnesota and Wisconsin. Construction employment in Tucson plummeted 31%, and it slumped 30% in Wenatchee, Wash.

Several California areas suffered deep declines. Construction jobs in Redding dipped 28%, while employment in the construction, mining and logging sectors in El Centro dropped 27%. The Riverside, San Bernardino and Ontario region, as well as the Sacramento, Arden-Arcade and Roseville area saw construction jobs slide 23%. Construction, mining and logging work fell 23% in the Santa Cruz and Watsonville zone.

Statewide, California’s construction employment numbers dropped 19%, from 798,400 workers to 650,200. Construction jobs in the Los Angeles, Long Beach and Glendale division fell 12%, from 145,400 workers to 127,300. The best performer in the state was the Hanford-Corcoran metropolitan area in Central California, which was ranked 95% nationwide with an 8% drop in construction, mining and logging jobs....

Take your housing complaints to the president

Got a beef about housing prices, loan mods, jobs or otherwise? The White House is standing by to field your comments .

The White House is inviting you to post your questions on the economy and vote on submissions from others. The President will answer some of the most popular in an online town hall on Thursday.

Those of you who would like to let us know what you sent can post it here too. Thanks to commenter NoHoDolphin, who alerted L.A. Land on another thread.

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photo: President Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting  March 18 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Unemployed homeowners get a break from Citigroup

Reduced mortgage payments for the unemployed? From the Associated Press at latimes.com:

Citigroup Inc. said Tuesday that it will lower mortgage payments for some homeowners to an average of $500 a month for three months as part of a new program to help the unemployed.

The struggling bank makes the move as President Barack Obama looks to lenders to adjust the way loans are handled.

Citigroup's new mortgage efforts also come on the heels of the latest attempt to bail out the company, which includes the U.S. government's exchange of up to $25 billion in emergency bailout money given to Citigroup for as much as a 36 percent equity stake in the company. The deal between the Treasury Department and Citigroup represents the third rescue attempt for the bank in the past five months.

Unemployed homeowners who may qualify for assistance from Citigroup under the Homeowner Unemployment Assist program include those that are 60 days or more past due on their mortgages or in foreclosure and can pay the reduced amount. Customers must also have a first mortgage loan that is owned and serviced by CitiMortgage Inc. and conforms to government sponsored enterprise limits. The house must also be the customer's primary residence, with homeowners meeting all insurer and guaranty requirements.

It will be interesting to see if other bailed-out lenders follow suit. If anyone gives this a try let me know how it works out.

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photo: Citigroup headquarters in New York. Credit: Richard Drew / Associated Press

Record-breaking times

When we had that "name this economic cycle" competition at L.A. Land a while back did anyone offer "retro-pression"? Because the statistical comparisons that came out this week looked like a clock running backward:

California unemployment Friday at latimes.com:

More than 1 in 10 California workers were unemployed in January, the largest percentage in nearly 26 years, the state reported today.

The 10.1% jobless rate is the highest since June 1983 and not far below the 11% record set in November 1982 at the worst point of a severe recession, according to the governor's office.

National new-home sales Thursday at latimes.com from Associated Press:

New-home sales tumbled to a record-low annual pace in January, and there's no relief in sight as mounting damage from the collapsed housing market pushes the country deeper into recession.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales fell 10.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000, the worst showing on records going back to 1963. It was a weaker showing than the pace of 330,000 that economists expected and shattered the previous all-time monthly low set in September 1981.

California housing starts Thursday at L.A. Land:

Housing starts dropped 68% since 2005 when 208,000 new homes -- the high water mark -- were built to about 66,000 in 2008 -- the lowest number since 1954.

And from "U.S. home prices continue record slide" Wednesday at latimes.com:

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller U.S. national home price index fell 18% in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the same period a year earlier, the largest decline in the index's 21-year history.

The sharpest year-to-year declines were in Phoenix (down 34%), Las Vegas (33%), San Francisco (31%), Miami (29%) and Los Angeles, including Orange County (26%).

And yet ...

Overall, U.S. home prices are now at 2003 levels, according to the index.

--Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photo:  Job postings at the Verdugo Jobs Center in Glendale. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Related post:

Buying newly built? There could be $10,000 in it for you
L.A. Land, name this economic cycle

California cities step up to keep sources of tax revenue

A "60 Minutes" segment Sunday focused on Wilmington, Ohio, a town where many livelihoods center on one major employer, DHL, a shipping company that is laying off big-time. Closer to home, Monday's Wall Street Journal looks at some Golden State communities trying to hang on to businesses in "California Towns Bail Out Auto Dealerships":

Detroit's troubles are forcing some communities to attempt an auto bailout of their own: propping up their local car dealerships.

Two California towns, hoping to preserve jobs and tax revenue, are bailing out local car dealers that are struggling to stay afloat amid tight credit markets and plunging demand for new vehicles.

Victorville, a desert town on the main highway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, recently approved a $200,000 loan to Victorville Motors, a 40-year-old family-owned dealer in the town's auto park. Norco, east of Los Angeles in the so-called Inland Empire, has approved loans of $500,000 each to Norco Mazda and Frahm Dodge. A third city, Redlands, is mulling over a financial-assistance proposal for its new- and used-car dealers.

The Southern California cities, among the fastest growing in the U.S. until 2007, are reeling from home foreclosures and a collapse in the construction industry.

Car dealerships in these towns have been the economic engine of local government as well as pillars of the community, sponsoring everything from Little Leagues to rodeos. Victorville Mayor Rudy Cabriales said car dealers are the city's largest source of sales-tax revenue. Victorville, a city of about 106,000, projects sales and use tax revenue of $19.5 million in fiscal 2009, down 24.5% from last year....

"The last thing we want is for them to shut down, leaving an empty building, an eyesore in the auto park, and more people unemployed," Mr. Cabriales said.

Meanwhile, Victorville home values were battered last year. It's 92392 ZIP Code saw a median sales price decline of 44.8%, 92394 dropped 45.6%, and 92395 dropped 42.4%, according to MDA DataQuick. San Bernardino County as a whole saw a 40% drop. Norco, in Riverside County, saw median home sale prices drop by 31% last year. Not quite as bad as the county as a whole at -37%.

For all of Southern California, foreclosure resales were 55.7% of December activity, up a tick from 54.7% in November and more than twice the 24.3% in December 2007, reports MDA DataQuick.

It's somewhat curious that cities would cough up money to save dealerships, but in these California cases it doesn't seem to be so much about jobs as tax dollars.

In Norco, a city of about 24,000, car dealerships are expected to contribute about 40% of the $5.5 million the city expects in sales-tax revenue this year, according to City Manager Jeff Allred.

Still, there's no guarantee these businesses won't go belly up anyway. Who can afford to buy a car these days? Seems to me they could be throwing good money after bad.
 

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

L.A. County unemployment at 9.9% last month

As employment relates to paying the mortgage or the rent, here's the latest on latimes.com:

California's unemployment rate jumped to 9.3% in December -- the highest in 15 years -- and with more layoffs expected, economists predicted even higher numbers for the rest of the year.

The state Employment Development Department today reported that the December jobless rate was up almost a full percentage point from 8.4% in November. It stood at 5.9% a year earlier.

The rate for Los Angeles County, which like the state number is seasonally adjusted, was 9.9% for December, up from a revised 8.9% for November.

"It's an ugly report," said Howard Roth, chief economist for the state Department of Finance. "We're in the grips of a formidable recession," with the highest unemployment since January 1994.

And yes, it seems to come back to housing.

"What's happening is the weakness that originally was in construction and financial services has spilled over to everywhere," said economist Esmael Adibi of Chapman University in Orange.

I'm with the economists on this one, I don't think we've seen anything yet. So does this mean one in 10 L.A. households can't cover their housing expenses?

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photo: Eva Pilon assists a job seeker at Goodwill Industries' career resource center in Los Angeles. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Recovery timeline: In years or terms?

Evidence is mounting that we're in for a long haul. From "U.S. economy may sputter for years" Monday at latimes.com:

Transfixed by the daily spectacle of dismal economic news and wild Wall Street swings, few Americans have looked up to see what a wide array of economists say lies beyond the immediate crisis.

And with good reason: The picture isn't pretty.

The sleek racing machine that was the U.S. economy is unlikely to return any time soon despite the huge repair efforts now underway. Instead, it probably will continue to sputter and threaten to stall for years to come.

The prospects are so gloomy, according to a recent study, that unemployment may be slightly higher by the time President-elect Barack Obama's first term ends.

The damage done by plunging house and stock prices, the failure of other major economies to be independent sources of growth and hidden weaknesses in America's past performance have crippled nearly every actor in the nation's economic drama....

"Decades of borrowing have finally caught up with consumers; they realize there is no more easy money left," said Allen Sinai, chief economist of Decision Economics Inc.

The days of the home as personal ATM seem long gone now. Because housing is just one part of an increasingly dismal economic picture -- add to that the giant budget problems here in California -- I scratch my head every time I read a prediction that California housing prices could stop their decline in 2009. I just think there are too many factors in the big picture for a quick bounce back.  At least that's my one and a half cents. 

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photo: A panhandler appeals to a passerby for money in front of a Bank of America branch Friday in Los Angeles. Credit: Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press