ONTARIO – The Inland Empire’s senior economist John Husing is predicting it will take five years for the region to regain all the jobs it lost during the recession.

In his ‘State of the Region’ report he delivered Thursday, Husing estimates the local region will gain only 5200 jobs this year with unemployment only slightly easing.

Dr. Husing is focusing on a long-term strategy.

“If we do not wake up and start to undertake major efforts to change the education level of your young people, we’re gonna be stuck with difficult situations for a very long time.”

On the housing front, Husing reported that nearly half of all mortgages in the Inland Empire outweigh the value of the home. (INT)

Story Date: May 25, 2011