• Hate it? Love it? Email Jon by 
Here's recent history of the Fed’s policy committee and its Fed Funds rate. Next Fed decision is June 24/25.
O.C. real estate/finance jobs at 33-month low
January 21st, 2008, 12:02 am · 15 Comments · posted by Jon Lansner/ocregister.com
Orange County’s real estate and related finance businesses lost 14,200 jobs in the year ended last month, putting employment in this niche at 245,000 workers, the lowest level since March 2005. (Psst! And that’s from state job stats that will be revised shortly, so bet that this ugly picture is a best-case scenario!) On a percentage basis, last month’s 5.48% year-to-year drop is the largest since 1993.
Why the drop? No surprise: Credit-related jobs in O.C., primarily in making and servicing home loans, are off 12,200 from their peak in December ‘05, or a 22% drop. Construction work is down 7,800 workers from its peak in September 2006, or a 7% drop.
Elsewhere, non-real estate bosses added 6,400 workers last month, lowest since September. Here’s a look at the real estate job stats by key industry slices …
| Job slice | Last mo. | Vs. ‘06 | Vs. ‘06 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | 102,700 | -4,800 | -4.5% |
| • Construct buildings | 21,600 | -2,600 | -10.7% |
| • Heavy construction | 8,300 | -300 | -3.5% |
| • Specialty trades | 72,800 | -1,900 | -2.5% |
| Lending activities | 42,900 | -8,700 | -16.9% |
| • Bank lending | 16,300 | -700 | -4.1% |
| • Non-bank lending | 17,300 | -4,600 | -21.0% |
| • Lending support | 9,300 | -3,400 | -26.8% |
| Other finance | 10,500 | -900 | -7.9% |
| Real estate/leasing | 41,400 | +1,200 | +3.0% |
| • Real estate | 34,200 | +1,000 | +3.0% |
| • Leasing | 7,200 | +200 | +2.9% |
| Bldg. services | 32,100 | +100 | +0.3% |
| Building supply | 12,300 | +100 | +0.8% |
| Farm | 3,100 | -1,200 | -27.9% |
| All real-estate related | 245,000 | -14,200 | -5.5% |
| All other O.C. jobs | 1,291,600 | +6,400 | +0.5% |
| All O.C. jobs | 1,536,600 | -7,800 | -0.5% |
January 21st, 2008 at 7:05 am
Does anyone know how many defense-related jobs were lost in OC during the last downturn?
January 21st, 2008 at 8:11 am
Real estate added 1000 jobs? That’s a bit dubious.
January 21st, 2008 at 9:53 am
whats dropping faster than the price of real estate in
orange county… the stock market…. short the s&p
January 21st, 2008 at 9:58 am
Not sure why anyone pays attention to these, they are so inaccurate and flawed it is only a speaking point. Sure the jobs are down, and you know what things are worse then they say…so what does it matter? The fact is we are ALL in deep trouble, the savers are in trouble and the spenders are going to be in trouble albeit faster than the savers…Country as a whole is in deep trouble. Sadly can anyone see any of these front runners pull us out of these problems, or make it worse? I think 2009 will be a year that will test the strength of the mettle of this Country, and I suspect it will not go down like other times.
January 21st, 2008 at 10:34 am
Someone recently asked what I’d like to be doing 5 years from now…I flatly said, “Working.”
January 21st, 2008 at 10:35 am
Actually, I want to know how wages compare for those jobs lost versus the jobs gained in each catagory…I’m willing to bet, like the trend of the last 5-6 years, that the newly created jobs pay less than the old ones.
January 21st, 2008 at 10:45 am
HB Bear, this is NOTHING like the defense downsizing. I remember General Dynamics laying off 25,000 people in San Diego in one day!
Our current situation of stupid loans on overpriced properties will create its own problems though.
January 21st, 2008 at 10:52 am
What “new” jobs? The only jobs out there are from those you have left OC for greener pastures, retired or died. So far, I’ve been hanging in there for 9 months waiting for whoever holds my job to do one of those three. Moving is probably a long shot given the sad state of real estate, retirement is an equally long shot since most people seem to have no concept of saving, so that leaves dying. I don’t know who you are that presently holds MY job, but in the words of Colorado’s former Governor, Richard Lamm, you have a duty to die. Please do it soon. Our economy is depending on you.
January 21st, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Learn I.T. work… no matter what business it is, they use computers.
January 21st, 2008 at 6:16 pm
You cannot just look at the number of jobs lost today in Real Estate vs. the Defense Industry in the 90s. The entire economy has benefited from the Real Estate boom through the credit markets. Once that money dries up (and we are very close to that point in time) life will get a bit tough for many. Not only for the credit-driven OC families that have been living way beyond their means for the past years; but also for the O.C. Economy* as a whole.
* you can replace O.C. with any other bubble market across the entire U.S.
January 21st, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I totally agree that jobs are just one small piece of the picture, I was more curious about the defense losses than anything else; I just didn’t have any sense of the number.
“Employed” is the first of a long list of “qualifiers” that determine whether or not someone is ready, willing and able to buy a house.
January 21st, 2008 at 7:59 pm
And for those that would consider buying a house today, I think “crazy” or maybe “high” might be one of those qualifiers.