Study: Hollywood Good For California
Good news, everybody! A study by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. reveals that the entertainment business is Good For California, providing jobs, drawing tourists desperate for a taste of Hollywood Movie Magic™, and generally causing money to fall from the sky and into the pockets of its residents and local industry. Reports THR:
The Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. reports that motion picture and television production accounts for an estimated 251,600 jobs in the greater Los Angeles area, making it the fifth-largest export industry in the region.
Hollywood ranks just behind business and professional services and, in terms of jobs-per-industry, below technology, direct international trade and the largest export industry — tourism — with an estimated average annual employment of 512,600 jobs last year.
"What drives a lot of our tourists to California is the motion picture industry, which also has a huge impact on our apparel industry as well as furniture, manufacturing and even jewelry," LAEDC chief economist Jack Kyser said. "(Hollywood) is a very critical industry for us."
The LAEDC report further suggests that plans to relocate the entire entertainment industry to a plot outside Vancouver would have "potentially disastrous economic consequences" for the state, and also dismisses claims about the carcinogenic properties of Hollywood product as "inconclusive."
