Inland Southern Cal Regional Growth

Unusual forces - ranging from the state's financial uncertainties to the labor showdown at the area's major groceries - have turned into economic roadblocks for Inland Southern California, according to a report released Friday.

Job growth in San Bernardino and Riverside counties increased by an anemic 1.3 percent in November from where it was 12 months earlier, the state Employment Development Department reported. The year-over rate of job creation declined from 2.1 percent last month and is less than a third of where it was three years ago.

Inland Southern California's population is continuing to grow, and certain segments of the workforce are almost guaranteed to grow with it. One of them is the food-retailing sector, but the strike and lockout at Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons and the hiring of replacement workers meant close to 3,000 fewer workers in November than the previous month.

The Inland area is the only part of Southern California showing any substantial growth. San Diego County has added only 100 jobs in the last 12 months, according to the state's estimates. Los Angeles County hemorrhaged 37,900 jobs in the last year, and Orange County has lost 3,500 jobs.

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