INLAND EMPIRE – (INT) – While some talk about chances of a mild recession in 2020, local economists are trumpeting the region’s comeback from the Great Recession.

It took hold in late 2011, some two years behind the nation’s turnaround. The Inland Empire lost an annual average of -140,214 jobs or -10.7% of all its positions during the peak of the Great Recession, Dr. Manfred Kiel of Claremont McKenna College reported.

Focusing on the Inland Empire’s expansion between 2011-19, the region was an employment engine gaining 352,208 local jobs. This year, the Inland Empire is on track to reach 1,544,212 jobs, economist John Husing projected. That would be 237,537 jobs above its 2007 pre-recession peak.

Story Date: August 22, 2019