General Plan - Moreno Valley

CHAPTER 8 – HOUSINGMigration out of the traditional ethniccenters has made cities like MorenoValley, with its large supply of affordablehousing and traditional family lifestyle,more ethnically diverse. Unlike older cities,Moreno Valley is fortunate that itsneighborhoods are ethnically integratedwithout parts of the city being dominatedby a concentration of any one ethnic group.8.2.5 Employment CharacteristicsMany families took advantage of thesavings that could be realized bypurchasing a home in Moreno Valley. In1990, 51.5% of city residents were newarrivals from other areas in SouthernCalifornia. Many of the wage earners inthese newly arrived families still worked inor near the areas from which they hadmigrated. In 1991, 32% of Moreno Valley‘s resident-workers were commuting morethan forty-five minutes to work and 26%were commuting over an hour to work. 2The recession of the 1990s and the loss ofjobs in the Southland severely affectedMoreno Valley. Moreno Valley workerswere earning income in Los Angeles,Orange Counties and various otherSouthland locations and bringing thatincome back to the city to fuel the localeconomy. When their jobs were lost to therecession and to the massive cutbacks inthe defense industry, the city’s economyfaltered.Employment in Southern California fell fortwelve consecutive quarters during therecession (3rd quarter 1990 to 3rd quarter1993). A total of 500,000 SouthernCalifornia jobs were eliminated, manynever to be created again at the samewage or benefit levels. However, theInland Empire was a paradox in that it wasthe only region in California to add jobsduring this period. The jobs were primarilyclustered along the I-15 freeway. Data asto whether or not the new jobs providedMORENO VALLEY GENERAL PLANsufficient income to support a family is notavailable. The recession and economicrestructuring of the 1990s has changed theSouthland’s employment landscape and thefuture outlook for workers entering the workforce. Whereas in 1993, 63% of the familiesin Moreno Valley reported working in higherpaying occupations like management, theprofessions, skilled employment, technicalemployment, health and government; by1998 the number or workers reporting theyhad professional or skilled positions, droppedto 52%. The number of technical workersdropped significantly from 17% to 5% andthe proportion of workers holding lowerskilled or unskilled jobs rose from 37% to48%. 3Between 1991 and 1995 unemploymentrates in Riverside County did not drop below9.5%. Unemployment in the county wasabove 10% during 1991-1995 period. Duringthe same time frame, Moreno Valley’sunemployment was consistently above 10%,with rates of 12% both in 1992 and 1993. Asillustrated in Chart 8-4, Moreno Valley’sunemployment for the ten years between1990 and 2000 has been higher than thecounty average. With the improvedeconomy after 1996, unemployment rates forthe city and county fell, with the 1999 countyaverage at 5.5% and the City of MorenoValley average at 5.9%. 4As of March 2000 the unemployment rate inthe county was reported at 4.7% percent and5.1% for Moreno Valley. In 1999, the twocountyarea of San Bernardino and Riversideadded 51,400 jobs, a record high. Theincrease in jobs resulted in a 5.7% growthrate that surpassed every other metropolitanregion in the state. Although the InlandEmpire has fewer jobs than surroundingcounties, the area’s employment base hasbeen growing at a faster rate. Between 1997and 1999, the Inland Empire added morejobs than Orange, San Diego and Venturacounties. 5Page 8-8 July 11, 2006