Posted on 04/16/2016 2:55:11 AM PDT by lowbridge
Los Angeles was once the epicenter of apparel manufacturing, attracting buyers from across the world to its clothing factories, sample rooms and design studios.
But over the years, cheap overseas labor lured many apparel makers to outsource to foreign competitors in far-flung places such as China and Vietnam.
Now, Los Angeles firms are facing another big hurdle — California's minimum wage hitting $15 an hour by 2022 — which could spur more garment makers to exit the state.
Last week American Apparel, the biggest clothing maker in Los Angeles, said it might outsource the making of some garments to another manufacturer in the U.S., and wiped out about 500 local jobs. The company still employs about 4,000 workers in Southern California.
"The exodus has begun," said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at Cal State Channel Islands and a former director at Forever 21. "The garment industry is gradually shrinking and that trend will likely continue."
In the last decade, local apparel manufacturing has already thinned significantly. Last year, Los Angeles County was home to 2,128 garment makers, down 33% from 2005, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. During that period, employment also plunged by a third, to 40,500 workers. Wages, meanwhile, jumped 17% adjusting for inflation, to $698 per week — although that can include pay for top executives, as well as bonuses, tips and paid vacation time.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
You for Trump?
Why, thank you. I’ve always thought that the problem is that the Cheap Labor Express sways too many true conservatives because nobody studies economics anymore. And, yeah, the loudest are quite likely in the upper echelons. They tend to regard labor costs as an expense to be avoided rather than as a necessity to maintain a middle class and aspirations to improve ones situation.
I laugh at the LIB idiots and the “unintended consequences” of their ignorant plans. HaHaHa.
Wow, American Apparel was one of the last companies to make cloths in the US. That was part of their core branding.
I was recently in a WalMart where they were advertising 9.00/hr jobs, and I was thinking that 36 years ago, I was making $4.35/hr in a job I had at a department store while in college (which at that time was above the minimum wage).
I think that the real problem is that those jobs were never meant to be a “career” where you could own a home and raise a family - they were meant to be supplementary. I worked with other students and married women who wanted a flexible job where they could pick up some extra income. In high school, many of my friends worked at fast food places. No actual “adult” would EVER work at those jobs. The real problem here is a lack of skilled adults and jobs for them. As usual, Democrats are “solving” the wrong problem, which, of course, causes MORE problems.
Nope, I am conservative.
You've decided wrong. Even if you were right, do you not think that many of these "retirees" have children and grandchildren whose futures they care about? My friends who do not have kids do seem to be of the run the clock out mentality and and tend to vote Dim as a result, but my friends with kids are definitely concerned about the future of this country.
The folks this will hurt the worst is our teenagers. The few jobs out there will soon dry up.
“American Apparel can easily relocate to Texas. CA is NOT business friendly. Democrats run the show.”
be careful what you wish for. I personally know the dude (ex Canadian like me) who owns AA and he’s a moonbat. Do you really want rich libs flocking to red states like TX and turning it blue?
...as well as helping unions as many have contracts that adjust for minimum wage hikes.
All in all, the poor and middle class get screwed while the politicians stay on their gravy train.
Or Tennessee, Beretta just did. We are a NO state Income Tax State, just sales tax, and they are trying to phase out the Hall Income tax on investments. We are a RED State first time since Reconstruction.
You have 12 horses they call you a gentleman of leisure. You have 12 cats, they call you crazy.
Not speaking for/about me...
“As far as merchandise is concerned, folks will have to buy less, which is better if what they’re buying is made in the USA.”
Thank you for admitting that trade has improved the standard of living and that tariffs will result in lowering that standard.
“The fact that no one wants to pay an extra $10 for a tee-shirt so that someone that they have never met can afford a 70 inch TV.”
“That is a ridiculous supposition. How can anyone have a rational discussion with that BS flung out as a starting point? That is why Cheap Labor Express whores are losing the battle.”
Why is it ridiculous to say that American consumers do not want “to pay an extra $10 for a tee-shirt so that someone that they have never met can afford a 70 inch TV.”
Are you claiming that the average American wants to pay more for products so that others can have a bigger TV than they do?
Some years back, after retirement, I took a beer-money job as a night-stocker at Wal-Mart. The crew was mostly young kids, a few women and a bunch of us old guys.
One night, I was talking with of the kids who was thinking of staying with W-M. I told him that the only people who should be working here were retired old fuds like me or kids working their way through college. Deer-in-headlights, but in a month or so he was gone - hopefully on to better things.
That’s ridiculous; look at how many people “bettered themselves” with education (NOT in basketweaving) just to see those jobs outsourced or foreigners imported to take them. I see a lot of that in finance and accounting; many Asians (particularly young women) are taking jobs for which there are countless American candidates.
You seriously underestimate how determined most employers are to replace EVERY American on their payrolls; this is part of scaling back our standard of living to a Third World level, and it has gone on for years. It is no accident that Trump and Sanders are doing well; most Americans know neither party’s hierarchy will help them with this - in fact, more and more Americans realize they are both COMPLICIT IN IT.
How did you ever derive that from what I stated? Buying less and making things last longer, not getting goods that are overpriced for endorsements or whatever, and shifting to made-in-USA preferences will cut down on frivolous purchases, but do NOTHING to improve ones standard of living.
Supply and demand will keep the cost of things in line.
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