LOS ANGELES - (INT) - The year 2016 remains the best-case scenario for the inland region’s economy to return to pre-recession levels.

That’s the prediction issued Thursday at an annual summit of the Southern California Association of Governments in Los Angeles.

SCAG president Greg Pettis says the Inland Empire is ‘housing-dependent’.

“Housing starts have not resumed and may not for the next 12-18 months. That’s a big economic driver. We will have to wait until the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach kicked back into gear in order for our logistics sector to take off.”

Employment levels may not return to those of pre-recession years until as late as 2018.

Story Date: December 9, 2013