Economy
The second-largest office space market in the San Fernando Valley is located in Burbank. Much of the space is utilized by the entertainment industry, which has among the highest office lease rates in the region.
More people work in Burbank each day than live in the city. The combined payroll for all of Burbank's private sector businesses totaled $6.7 billion in 2005, according to the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University-Northridge. In 2005, Burbank employed 125,871 people in the private sector, while the neighboring city of Glendale, California employed 74,149 people, according to CSUN's economic researchers. Burbank's media, entertainment, telecommunications and Internet industries dominated the list in employment numbers and payroll, generating a combined $4.2 billion in payroll and accounting for 64,948 positions.
As the figures above show, much of Burbank's economy is based on the entertainment industry. While Hollywood may be a symbol of the entertainment industry, much of the actual production occurs in Burbank. Many companies have headquarters or facilities in Burbank, including Warner Bros. Entertainment, Warner Music Group, NBC Universal, The Walt Disney Company, ABC, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Cookie Jar Entertainment, New Wave Entertainment, and Insomniac Games.
Many ancillary companies from Arri cameras, to Cinelease, Entertainment Partners, JL Fisher, and Matthews Studio Equipment also maintain a presence in Burbank. Xytech Systems Corporation, a business software and services provider to the entertainment industry, is headquartered in Burbank.
Local IATSE union offices for the Stagehands Local 33, Grips Local 80, Make-up and Hairstylist Local 706 and Set Painters Local 729 also make their home in Burbank with Teamsters Local 399, IBEW Local 40 and many other IATSE locals nearby.
Burbank has not been immune to the U.S. economic and housing impacts from the recession. City officials prepared for cutbacks going into 2009. Burbank's City Manager, Mike Flad, estimated the city's 2009–10 fiscal budget will suffer a 5% shortfall. For the city's 2010–11 fiscal year, the city projected a deficit of $5.8 million and projected the deficit will remain a problem at least until 2014–15, when it is projected to be $6.9 million. The current budget problems do not appear to compare to the revenue hit the city took in the early 1990s when Burbank was losing aerospace jobs after Lockheed left.
California's state budget woes are expected to put more pressure on cities such as Burbank. State lawmakers have proposed eliminating the individual redevelopment agencies, a move that would force cities such as Burbank to eliminate much needed infrastructure projects. Local redevelopment agencies also may be forced to reimburse the state. For example, Burbank Redevelopment Agency might have pay the state nearly $20 million. But the city is fighting the return of at least $15 million in redevelopment funds, including money that was slated for the Lundigan Community Center and improvements to Johnny Carson Park. Whether Burbank will ultimately prevail is unclear, as the state's budget hole is getting worse due to the slow economy and lower than expected state revenues.
As of April 2012, unemployment in the Burbank area stood at 8.4%, representing a decline from March levels and below the state's jobless rate of 10.9%, according to the California Employment Development Department. Back in January 2011, the unemployment rate in Burbank had reached 10.7%, according to EDD.
One bright spot in the otherwise bleak job market was Kaiser Permanente's decision to relocate some administrative offices near the Burbank airport. The relocation from Kaiser's Glendale and Pasadena administrative offices to Burbank was completed in 2009. More recently, eSolar moved offices from Old Town Pasadena to Burbank and continues to add positions. In 2011, General Electric agreed to invest $40 million in the solar company. Additionally, KCET television announced plans in 2012 to relocate to Burbank's Media District. KCET is a former PBS station and the nation's largest independent station in southern and central California.
Read more about this topic: Burbank Police Department (California)
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“War. Fighting. Men ... every man in the whole realm is in the army.... Every man in uniform ... An economy entirely geared to war ... but there is not much war ... hardly any fighting ... yet every man a soldier from birth till death ... Men ... all men for fighting ... but no war, no wars to fight ... what is it, what does it mean?””
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get “a good job,” but to perform well a certain work; and, even in a pecuniary sense, it would be economy for a town to pay its laborers so well that they would not feel that they were working for low ends, as for a livelihood merely, but for scientific, or even moral ends. Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)