Job opportunities at the Port of Los Angeles are dwindling as President Trump’s steep tariffs take a hit on global trade and a major economic engine for the regional economy.
Nearly half of the longshoremen who support operations at the port went without work over the last two weeks, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said in an interview.
The port processed 25% less cargo than forecast for the month of May, he said.
Trump’s tariffs have drastically stemmed the flow of goods into the U.S., driving down activity at the neighboring ports of L.A. and Long Beach, which collectively processed more than 20 million 20-foot-long cargo units last year.
The two ports are the largest in the country and provide jobs for thousands of dockworkers, heavy equipment operators and truck drivers.
But work has fallen off sharply in recent weeks. Over the last 25 work shifts, only 733 jobs were available for 1,575 longshoremen looking for work.
“They haven’t been laid off, but they’re not working nearly as much as they did previously,” Seroka told The Times. “Since the tariffs went into place, and in May specifically, we’ve really seen the work go off on the downside.”
Marine terminal operators post available work opportunities, known as job orders, on a digital board at the port three times a day. Longshoremen can review the job orders at each shift and bid on the jobs they want to take. If there are more longshoremen than job orders, a portion of workers will go without pay.
The average of 733 job orders posted over the past 25 shifts, which is equal to roughly two weeks, is unusually low.
Ordinarily, between 1,700 and 2,000 job orders are posted during a typical day shift, and between 1,100 and 1,400 are posted during a standard night shift.
Seroka attributed the decrease in job opportunities to lower cargo volume moving through the port.
In May, 17 cargo ships canceled their planned trips to Los Angeles amid uncertainty over duties the Trump administration imposed worldwide.
Although May is typically a busier month than April, this past May saw 18% less cargo processed than the month prior, according to port data.
The falloff comes during a critical time in advance of the Christmas shopping season, orders for which are usually placed before July 1.
Conditions are not expected to significantly improve anytime soon.
“The June numbers that we’re projecting right now are nowhere near where they traditionally should be,” Seroka said.
An average of five ships have entered the port each day over the last week. This time of year, there would typically be between 10 and 12 ships in the port each day.
“The drop in cargo volume caused by Trump’s tariffs will mean empty shelves when products don’t reach our stores, rising prices on everything from groceries to clothes to cars, and undoubtedly, more Americans out of work,” U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California said in a news conference last month.
The decline in shipping has broader ripple effects on L.A.’s logistics economy.
A 2023 report found that the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach contributed $21.8 billion in direct revenue to local service providers, generating $2.7 billion in state and local taxes and creating 165,462 jobs, directly and indirectly.
A decline of just 1% in cargo to the ports would wipe away 2,769 jobs and endanger as many as 4,000 others, the study found.
Union officials could not be reached for comment on Friday but had previously predicted job losses for their members.
“Some of the workforce will not be getting their full 40 hours a week based on the loss of cargo,” Gary Herrera, president of the longshoremen union ILWU Local 13, warned last month.
“That is going to have an effect on the work opportunities for not just us, but for truck drivers, warehouse workers and logistics teams,” he said.
The slowdown in activity at the ports of L.A. and Long Beach has also spread into surrounding communities. Businesses in the area rely on a robust community of port workers to frequent their establishments.
“We’re starting to hear from small businesses and restaurants in the harbor area that their customer patronage is trending downward,” Seroka said. “Outside of COVID, this is the biggest drop I’ve seen in my career.”
