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Job Growth in Riverside Could Take Workers From S.D.

A regional economist says healthy job growth in Riverside County could pull workers away from San Diego. Jobs are growing much faster inland than they are along the coast. KPBS Radio's Andrew Phelps e

Job Growth in Riverside Could Take Workers From S.D.

A regional economist says healthy job growth in Riverside County could pull workers away from San Diego. Jobs are growing much faster inland than they are along the coast. KPBS Radio's Andrew Phelps explains.

Marney Cox is the chief economist for SANDAG. He says half of the homes in Riverside are occupied by someone who works in San Diego. That adds a lot of commuters to San Diego freeways.

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Cox: I think that if you had a preference, you wouldn't want to live an hour or two hours away from work. You'd rather live closer and so cut down on your commute time. Question is, is whether or not you can find a job that's within that 20-minute or half-an-hour commute that's in Riverside that's comparable to the one you have in San Diego.

Cox says Riverside is getting more of those quality jobs these days. That means more of our northern neighbors will work closer to home. A new report says Riverside's job market has grown 89 percent over the past 15 years. Compare that to San Diego County's job growth of just 33 percent. For KPBS, I'm Andrew Phelps.