YourHub.com \\ Ventura \\ Blogs \\ News & Politics

Blog Entry 56 of 69 If you think it's news, it is.

Notes, observations, commentary, news and photos from our communities. I'm the general manager for the YourHub.com operation, the citizen journalism site for the Ventura County Star. And I'm glad you are here, too. My wife Joanna and I live in Simi Valley with our two sons, Matt and Joey. We've been in Ventura County for more than two decades and feel privileged to be here. Please comment on this blog and post your news and musings, too. See you around the county!

Blog Url: http://vc.yourhub.com/~HoffmanBlog

Entries:

Ventura’s economy faces challenges

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

NEXT › ‹ PREVIOUS

Contributed by: Michael Hoffman on 6/8/2007

The city of Ventura's economic growth has stalled despite continued growth in Ventura County as a whole.

The number of jobs being created in the city is extremely low. Well-paying jobs are leaving the city, being increasingly replaced by low-wage service jobs.

And overall, the city's population is shifting older faster than national trends, creating a gap in the city's middle class.

These were the key points that Bill Watkins, director of the UCSB Economic Forecast Project, made Friday before about 100 people in Ventura. Watkins was the central speaker at the 2007 City of Ventura Economic Forecast breakfast organized by the Ventura Chamber of Commerce.

Real gross product is the standard measure of economic vigor, according to Watkins' report prepared for the meeting. Ventura County's real gross product grew 4.5 percent in 2005 and had projected growth rates of 4.3 and 3.7 percent for 2006 and 2007, respectively.

Ventura, however, only saw 1.4 percent growth in 2005. The projected growth rates for 2006 and 2007 are 1.7 and 1.5, respectively, less than half of the county's rates.

Here's what's happening in Ventura. The number of jobs in the city is not growing and the type of work available in the city is changing. The numbers of well-paying jobs are falling. The numbers of low-paying service industry jobs are growing.

Two out of every five households in the city earn less than $50,000 a year, Watkins said.

The problem is that service industry jobs - like those in restaurants and hotels -- don't pay for themselves, Watkins said. When a person lives in a city, they use the things the city provides, such as police and fire protection. With a service industry job, the cost to the city to provide its goods exceeds the amount of revenue that the city earns from that person's economic contribution. The only bright point is that most of the service industry workers live outside the city, Watkins said.

There's another trend that the city must also confront, Watkins said. Young people are leaving the city, pushing the median age up and squeezing out the middle class.

"Ventura is growing older faster than even the United States is growing older," he said.

Ventura is seeing an increase in the percentage of households that earn more than $75,000 a year, but a decrease in the $50,000 to $75,000 range, according to Watkins.

Among the other panelists, Ventura County Star senior editor John Krist said that agriculture's contribution to the county has remained fairly constant over the last 25 years. When the ag revenue figures are adjusted for inflation, the sector accounts for about $1 billion a year. Krist said.

The major change over that period has been the globalization of the ag market. Almost a third of the county's lemon crop goes to Japan, Krist said.

"But the same global market that offers opportunity to our growers also offers competition," he said.

< Previous: 'The sounds of citizen ...' | Next: 'Wheelchair path unites...' >

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above blog