OTHER NEWS - May 13, 1994

San Gabriel Valley Economy Bests L.A. County: Mainly because it has fewer of the defense industries that took the biggest hit during the recession, the San Gabriel Valley economy has fared better than that of the rest of Los Angeles County, according to a study. “The San Gabriel Valley joblessness rate is 7.6%, while L.A. County’s is 9.9%,” said Roger Conover, the study’s author and director of the International MBA program at Azusa Pacific University. San Gabriel Valley businesses suffered job losses attributable more to a downturn in the normal business cycle--jobs that are more likely to come back once a recovery starts in the region, he said. “High-tech took a major hit, but the San Gabriel Valley only had 6% of all of the high-tech activity in the county,” Conover said. A greater share of jobs in the area are in services and retail than in the county, the study found. The study was prepared for the San Gabriel Valley Commerce and Cities Consortium Economic Outlook conference in Industry Hills. It is the first phase of an attempt to monitor the economic conditions in the valley, which encompasses about 30 municipalities, Conover said.