LAX project will create 39,900 jobs, report says

The modernization projects under construction at Los Angeles International Airport will generate about $6.9 billion in economic activity and create 39,900 jobs in the region during the next several years, a new study shows.

L.A. County Economic Development Corp.’s 47-page report says the $4.1-billion undertaking will help the construction industry and provide economic benefits to insurance, finance, manufacturing, real estate and retail businesses.

Researchers said new jobs will pay an estimated $2.9 billion in wages in the years ahead and provide about 24,570 construction-related jobs over the next few years. The building trades lost about 56,000 jobs due to the economic recession. The county’s unemployment rate was 12.3% in March.

-- Dan Weikel

Photo: Construction on LAX's Bradley West terminal project is photographed in February. Credit: Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times.

Comments

[Dan]

Where can I apply for a job. I'm a Superintendent with over 25 years of experience.

[LOL]

LOL yeah right 39k jobs? there words are like them dreaming.

[just b]

Construction jobs aren't NEW jobs.

[Alfred Brock]

These construction projects do not 'create jobs'. The people that work them are just another commodity in the price of the finished product. At the end of the work the 'jobs' no longer exist and have had the effect of employing and training individuals in some specialities that they believe must employ them for the rest of their lives. The manual labor of the work will likely be done by illegal immigrants anyway - which is a horror considering it is a project at a major international airport. Fraud and waste have become the hallmark of Californian and American government. Why is this farce being allowed to continue?

[Paul Nicholson]

The best improvement for Lax airport would be to replace all the miserable, sullen and bad mannered immigration/passport/security staff with those in Boston. Or, even better, any from Europe.

[ted w]

Will these jobs go to ONLY UNION MEMBERS? Sounds like payback from the politicians to me. I believe that RIGHT TO WORK laws should be applied to all public projects. If people truly want to reduce the amount of pandering and special interest buying our politicians - here is a place to start!

[Tom Burney]

$2.9 Billion in wages means we pay $2.9 Billion in more taxes. Hope the benefit outweighs the sacrifice...Is the need for an improved LAX outweigh the cost?

[Joe Jones]

Wow! This really looks great . . . doesn't it? Now if they would only use e-verify to make sure that all these "jobs" being created go to our citizens that really need work? Naw . . . that ain't gonna' happen!

[Joe]

More lies...

[LaycyKaycy]

Ok. So where do I apply? Where are these jobs? Article is a little vague. Sorry.

[Emerson]

The real problem with this article is the lack of actual timeframes. $2.9B in wages "in the years ahead" means nothing; let's assume they're looking 10 years ahead. Subtracting the construction jobs from the total # (which leaves us with, presumably, the long-term jobs) gives us around 15,000 jobs. 2.9B divided by 10 years and 15,000 jobs gives an average wage of a bit over $19,300/year. Not really something to be excited about.

Also, construction-related jobs over a multi-year timeframe often wind up hiring the same people because each job only lasts the duration of the project. So those 24,750 jobs could be significantly less in terms of separate people actually employed.

And finally, airport construction and funding isn't all done with tax revenues. Part of every airfare you pay goes to fund the airport as the Passenger Facility Charge (I think it's about $4.50 for LAX, but my info could be out of date).

[Everyday Guy]

These are temporary jobs. When the project is completed, the job ends. It would be impressive to see permanent jobs, like manufacturing.

[James]

I love these silly estimates. Most of these jobs will go to construction. This mean most of these jobs will go to illegal aliens.

[Jonah Corling]

Why not bust the unions and hire some of those Mexicans I see standing outside Home Depot? They'll pour cement for 1/2 the union cartel rate.

[joe]

We face a $15.4 billion dollar deficit here in California. The largets expenditures in our budget consist of schools and prisons. Our schools are mandated by law to receive 40% of our state budget. 80% of that, or 32% of our overall budget, goes to salaries and benefits for teachers and administrators. We have the highest paid teachers in the US and some of the worst education statistics.

We spend approximately $50,000 per year per prison inmate here in California. Compared to Texas, where there is a prison population at about the same level, who spends approximately $15,000 per year per inmate. Somehow our prisons are the ones that got put on Federal overwatch because the prisoners were being treated unfairly.

[Bike LA]

24,570 construction jobs? Sounds like LAX will be pretty crowded.

[steve rodriguez]

I'll believe this when i see it!

[marc]

That just sounds like nonsense without even thinking about it. So what are the qualifications to be counted as a "job"? Why do I have a feeling that if someone looked at the critical parts of what is counted as a job, you will find that a person swinging a hammer in location A and location B and location C are all considered different "jobs", thus, magically creating 3 "jobs".

[00100930]

http://www.laedc.org/newsroom/pdf/LAX%20Final%2003%2015%202011.pdf

PDF file of 47 page report