Minimum-Wage Hike Did Not Hurt Hirings in Southland, Report Shows

The minimum-wage hike for hotel workers in the city of Los Angeles hasn't caused a reduction in employment as feared, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The preliminary data previously showed a slowdown in employment for hotel workers since the Los Angeles City Council mandate a mini-wage of $15.37 for hotels with 300 or more rooms. The revised report, however, showed a gain of a little over 1 percent, the slowest employment gain since 2011. The preliminary report previously showed a 0.8 percent reduction.

The same wage hike will be applied to workers in hotels with 150 or more rooms this July.

The employment picture for the rest of the Southland is also looking up. In a survey released this week by Robert Half shows the region's CFOs are looking to add more people to their workforce.

In its Professional Employment Forecast report, 19 percent of CFOs are looking hire more people and 62 percent are looking to fill open positions.

"There is strong business growth in Los Angeles, with more and more companies competing to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, especially in the finance and business sectors," said Brett Good, senior district president for Robert Half. "In addition to offering higher salaries, more organizations are increasing their nonmonetary perks, including flextime and an appealing corporate culture, to attract top talent. The competition for highly skilled local professionals is alive and well."

More than half of CFOs surveyed said it is more challenging now than previously to find highly skilled professional workers, signalling a possible shortage of workers -- a trend supported by the unemployment numbers released by the Employment Development Department on Friday.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Los Angeles County was 5.6 percent in February, down from a revised 5.8 percent in January. The 5.6 percent rate was well below the 7.5 percent rate from February 2015.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for California was 5.5 percent in February, down from 5.7 percent in January and below the 6.7 percent rate in February 2015. The comparable estimates for the nation were 4.9 percent in February, 4.9 percent in January and 5.5 percent a year ago.

According to the EDD, total nonfarm employment increased in Los Angeles County by 45,800 jobs between January and February to reach more than 4.3 million. Education and health services posted the largest gain, adding 16,100 jobs.

About 281,000 people were unemployed in February in Los Angeles County, which has a workforce of about 5 million.

--City News Service contributed to this report.