Long Beach sees historically low unemployment rate

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Long Beach is experiencing historically low unemployment rates at 4.1 percent, and residents are feeling the job growth.

"When I first came here, I was like oh there's not enough going on here. But that's quite the contrary now," resident William Foxcroft said.

Since the 2007 recession, 9,000 jobs were created. Mayor Robert Garcia credits the $3 billion in construction and investment, which brings work to the community.

"We have more, right now, in development and private development, public projects, than we've probably had in the last few decades," he said.

From new shopping centers to housing, there are construction projects at every turn.

"We've got great companies moving in and the downtown is really booming. If you go downtown, there's really construction everywhere," Garcia said.

It's a welcome change for locals, who are proud to see their city grow.

"You could just kind of feel that there wasn't as much business, not as much vibrancy as now. I think you can just feel that there's so much more. So more people coming into the city, hopefully more jobs for them," Marianne Kulikov said.

In addition to the $3 billion in construction inside the city, there's another $4 billion that's been poured into construction at the Port of Long Beach.