MADISON AUMENT:For 91.9 KVCR News, I'm Madison Aument, and this is Economics IE. Today I'm in the studio with IEGO's executive director, Matt Mena. Welcome, Matt.
MATT MENA:Hey, good to be here.
AUMENT:We do not really have any jobs data because of the government shutdown that just ended. We talked about this last month, but how have the federal shutdown and the lack of official jobs data affected your ability to track the Inland Empire’s economy?
MENA:It has affected how we do some things in the Inland Empire. For instance, we send out a report every month that gives community members a way to see how jobs are trending locally.The other piece we have not seen yet, because the government has been shut down, is how money is being invested in the region. For every month of this shutdown, we have lost around 1.1 percent of the national GDP. That is around $30 billion of investment. When you break that down to the Inland Empire, that is a significant amount of money not coming here.
AUMENT:Can you say more about that?
MENA:Companies use this data to see how they can start hiring, what types of workforce programs they can engage with and what investments they should make.
AUMENT:Shifting back to what the Inland Empire’s economy looks like right now, we do not have the jobs numbers. What other ways are you looking at our economy?
MENA:There are a couple of other avenues we can look at, especially for workforce programs. We can still take in regional job openings data so we can see how companies are planning on hiring. We use that in-house because we are the Center of Excellence for all 12 community colleges. We are still putting out those types of reports.
AUMENT:Last time we talked about cybersecurity. Economists say one of the bigger concerns with the Inland Empire economy is that it is not very diversified and that the region has gone all in on logistics. Are there any updates on your investment into cybersecurity?
MENA:Yes. We are working with the San Bernardino Community College District on grants to help invest in these programs. The key piece for cybersecurity is that, unlike many economic development strategies where we try to bring businesses in first and then build workforce programs, our region did something different. Cal State San Bernardino built its cybersecurity program early, and we are working with them on grants as well. It is almost a complete pipeline. Students can go from K–12 into a cybersecurity program at Cal State San Bernardino, or go to UC Riverside to study AI.
AUMENT:We are in the holiday season, and it is almost Thanksgiving. What does seasonal hiring look like right now? How long will that continue?
MENA:We are still waiting to see whether it is what we expected or if it is lower than expected in our region. Seasonal hiring is not just retail or commercial companies. We see a huge boost in logistics seasonal hiring. That is one of the top categories in our region. We are waiting to see, especially if companies like the ones that start with an A use more automated services, which they have been investing in.
AUMENT:So remind me, the last jobs numbers we have are from August, right?
MENA:Yes.
AUMENT:Seasonal hiring is in September and October, so it is a big hole in our data.
MENA:Exactly. Hopefully we will see what those months look like in the next jobs report. It is important for us as a region to identify where our gaps are, especially in seasonal hiring. We do not want to be an economy where people jump from one seasonal job to the next. We want to make sure there is sustainability in job creation.
AUMENT:Thank you so much for coming in.
MENA:Thank you.
AUMENT:Thanks for listening, and join us again next Monday. This segment is supported by the Novak family. For KVCR News, I'm Madison Aument.
