Salary Trends: Looking Bright(er) for the IE in 2012

Things are looking up – finally! – for salaries in the Inland Empire in 2012.

PayScale.com reported in April that the first quarter of 2012 saw wages rise in Riverside County by about one percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. This was the second highest growth from quarter to quarter since the peak in the fourth quarter of 2008.

In addition, the Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG) published a report by economist John Husing that states that the area’s economy has “shifted into a somewhat higher gear” for 2012, with an estimated number of new jobs of 16,300, compared from 3,767 jobs in 2011. This is after massive job declines in 2008-2010 of negative 146,458.

Husing predicts that total employment will increase by 1.4 percent to 1,157,200, continuing a slight upward trend that started in 2011, when the number of new jobs increased by 0.3 percent. Unemployment also should decrease this year to an average of 11.5 percent (compared to 13.4 percent in 2011).

A bright spot in the Inland Empire is logistics. Riverside and San Bernardino counties are a hub for distribution centers and, according to Husing, the weak dollar is helping the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach break records for the amount of arriving imported goods. Container volume in 2012 is expected to reach 10.6 million (second to 2007’s record 10.7 million). As a result, distribution firms, trucking companies and warehousing businesses in the Inland Empire “have been adding workers,” Husing wrote.

Healthcare positions also are expected to grow. The Inland Empire grew by more than one million people between 2000 and 2011 (a whopping 28 percent of the 3.5 million residents “added in all of California,”Husing wrote). “Despite the sector’s job growth, the Inland Empire still has just one health care worker for every 39.4 residents,” compared to the state-wide average of 29.3.

However, the construction sector is still quite problematic, according to Husing, and should remain so for a while “until problems have ended for the 43.7 percent of inland homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages.”

When you need workers for temporary or direct-hire assignments for your Inland Empire distribution, warehouse, healthcare or general business company, contact Arrow Staffing. We’ve been helping businesses in Riverside and San Bernardino counties find great employees for more than 40 years and so we know a thing or two (or 25) about what it takes to source, check and place great workers. Contact us today!

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