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Warehouse Wage Growth Moderate in Coastal Markets, Remains Stifled in Inland Empire
While job openings in the U.S. are at record highs and the unemployment rate has bottomed out to the lowest level in decades, wage growth has failed to respond as quickly. Researchers at JLL took a closer look at wages across the Southern California region and found some interesting data points.
For instance, warehouse workers in coastal labor markets have seen their paychecks grow consistently, if not modestly, since the recession. On the other hand, warehouse and transportation wages in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties remained relatively static during the same decade.
One explanation for relatively muted warehouse wage growth in the Inland Empire could be a less diversified employer base, notes JLL’s John Sheaffer. Large e-retailers employ hundreds of warehouse workers per distribution center in the Inland Empire, setting the bar for wages and also creating a less competitive labor market. As additional companies expand into the e-commerce fold, big box labor markets like the Inland Empire will become increasingly diversified and in turn, more competitive, predicts Sheaffer.
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