The California Assembly’s Revenue and Taxation Committee and Arts and Entertainment Committee recently held a joint hearing to discuss the economic impact of AB 1839, the California Film and Television Job Retention and Promotion Act. The legislation was authored by Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima) and former Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) in 2014.

“The hearing highlighted that AB 1839 is working as intended, creating thousands of below-the-line jobs, increasing union membership and providing working families with dependable sources of income,” Bocanegra said. “It’s very clear that my legislation is helping build and strengthen California’s middle-class workforce.”

The information about middle-class jobs returning to California comes after a recent report by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation showing that the Los Angeles region has lost 89,000 manufacturing jobs, which paid $52,000 annually, and gained 92,000 food-industry jobs that paid $20,000 per year.

Bocanegra stressed the need to create more job training in California’s education fields to begin preparing the workforce at an early age.  Workforce development programs can help create a pool of talent at the community college level or at the late stages of high school, and are proven to help identify high-quality jobs, Bocanegra said.

“The report by LAEDC demonstrates our need to generate high-wage jobs in a region that has a high cost of living,” Bocanegra added. “The return of entertainment jobs remains a bright spot in Los Angeles’ economy, but we need to do more to ensure Californians are properly trained at skilled labor. Educating our workforce at an early stage will lead to a more diverse, skilled employment sector