MANUFACTURING
California’s Apparel and Textile Employment Decline
Jobs in apparel and textile manufacturing in California and Los Angeles County shrank slightly during the month of August compared with last year, according to state employment figures.
The drop is consistent with other manufacturing jobs that also showed declines, except for in the pharmaceutical industry, said Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.
“Manufacturing in Los Angeles in nondurable goods and durable goods is seeing a trend decline in jobs,” he said.
Overall, apparel and textile manufacturing in California will see a 4 percent decline in jobs this year, Kleinhenz said. But this is much better than the 13 percent slide seen in 2009.
In August, apparel manufacturing jobs in Los Angeles County slipped to 43,300, compared with 46,000 the same month last year, while jobs in the textile-mills industry stood at 6,200, compared with 6,700 last year.
One bright spot was the wholesale side of the business, which saw jobs in Los Angeles County increase to 22,700 in August, up from 22,300 last year.
