The survival of a city depends on at least three things:

1. People who are willing to live and work together
2. A reasonably healthy economy
3. An effectively organized government

– Museum of London

Topics Covered in the Talk

• Is LA’s economy healthy?
• How did it get the way it is?
• What can we do about it?
• LA’s Economy: Scraping by in an Affluent City – Acute poverty is the most powerful predictor of homelessness.
• Changing of the Guard: The Problem of a migrating work force solved, new problems emerge.
• The Informal Economy is LA’s Economic Growth Engine.

Policy Recommendations:

How Can LA Improve its Economy? Use the modest tools of local government to consistently nudge the economy in the right direction:

1. Understand and protect the region’s economic strengths
   • Green technology industries
   • Durable manufacturing
   • Linkages between innovation and production
2. Ensure that residents who work can lift their families out of poverty
   • Adopt living wage ordinances
   • Respect the value of unions
3. Have a plan
   • Understand the risks and payoffs from investing in different industries
   • Develop community-specific plans that build on local opportunities and goals
   • Use economic development, redevelopment and job training funds for these strategies
4. Use our infrastructure and regulations to benefit local residents
   • Leverage local jobs by adding value to goods moving through the ports
   • Buy green products from local businesses – use green technology to create local jobs.
   • Make land use decisions (zoning, permits) that support growth of a sustainable economy
5. Eliminate predatory work conditions – curb the informal economy
   • Enlist city and county prosecutors in collecting back wages from underground employers
   • Enforce labor laws in partnership with immigrant rights organizations
6. Whenever and where ever possible, help LA workers to upgrade their education and skill