Economists predict future economic improvement for Coachella Valley

Economists and business leaders from across the valley met Thursday morning to discuss the future of the economy at the Coachella Valley Economic Forecast Conference.

Economists from UCLA and Claremont McKenna College, near Los Angeles, predicted steady improvement for the Coachella Valley over the next 3 years.

Indio-based Chandi Group USA owns and operates numerous businesses, like convenience stores and fast-food restaurants here in the desert.

The company projects it will create more than 600 jobs in the next few years.

“We’ve got a $100 million dollar investment going in Indio, another $25 million investment in Indio, another $15 million investment in Coachella. Investments across the county and across all the cities,” Chandi Group USA executive VP Tom Freeman said.

But, despite some big improvements, the Coachella Valley remains in recovery mode.

“You’re now in a situation where you have the luxury to look at policy. When you’re in a recession you just have to recover. Now’s the time to move ahead and I think the primary focus has to be getting a better educated labor force, particularly in the Coachella Valley,” economics professor Manfred Keil said.

Freeman said Chandi Group USA makes education a priority.

“We encourage our employees to go to school, get their education, get certification and that’s how they move up the corporate structure in Chandi Group USA,” Freeman said.

Economists said cities in the Coachella Valley could lower the unemployment rate by 2 percent by adding three years of education to the average resident over 25 years old.

“One of the challenges for the Coachella Valley will be to keep our high-schoolers in school,” Freeman said.

Economists said California as a whole is one of the leading states in the rate of job creation with half a million jobs created just last year.