"You Really Can't be For Jobs And Against The People Who Create Them"

There is a new special report by the California Budget Project titled "Left Behind: Workers and Their Families in a Changing Los Angeles." The AP distributed a story about the report and I have seen it covered in several papers including the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. By way of summary, the AP writes regarding the 27 page report:

The wage gap has widened between Los Angeles County and the rest of California. Between 1979 and 2005, the inflation-adjusted hourly wage of the typical Los Angeles worker declined by more than 6 percent while it increased nearly 6 percent elsewhere.

While interesting, the report didn't especially catch my attention until I noticed the following statement by Jack Kyser, the chief economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, as quoted in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario):

"Given the enormous size of Los Angeles and the large number of workers there, the challenges faced by Los Angeles affect the entire state," said Alissa Anderson Garcia, author of the report for the CBP.

Kyser agreed, but said it was strange to hear the news from this particular messenger.

"It's ironic that the California Budget Project is fussing about wage growth and job quality," he said. "They were opposed to the Manufacturers Investment Credit, to enterprise zones and to incentives for low-budget film production. You really can't be for jobs and against the people who create them."

And now contrast that with how Mr. Kyser was quoted in the Los Angeles Times:

"We do definitely have challenges in Los Angeles County," said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. "We have no economic development strategy, and this is very dangerous in the type of global economy in which we operate."