Newsletter: California Inc.: Long Beach plays host to ‘Pulse of the Ports’ shipping event

Welcome to California Inc., the weekly newsletter of the L.A. Times Business Section.

I’m Business columnist David Lazarus, and here’s a rundown of upcoming stories this week and the highlights of last week.

Steady (albeit unspectacular) improvement in the Golden State: We learned Friday that employers increased their payrolls by a net 22,900 employees in February. The California unemployment rate ticked down to 5% from 5.1% in January, though it remained higher than the national rate of 4.7%. Despite eight consecutive months of job growth, and a strong 2016 overall, the state’s jobless rate has not dropped below 5% since 2006.

LOOKING AHEAD

Coming attractions: Hollywood moves to Vegas from Monday to Thursday for the movie industry’s annual CinemaCon gathering at Caesars Palace. Basically, studio heads drag stars onstage to show off upcoming movies for theater owners. Usually the biggest studios suck up all the oxygen, but smaller players like Amazon and Focus Features also will make presentations.

Shipshape: The Port of Long Beach is hosting its annual “Pulse of the Ports” event Wednesday at the Long Beach Convention Center. Experts, including an economist and industry officials, will offer a sense of how the San Pedro Bay facility will handle the upcoming peak shipping season when most holiday goods are received.

Hot gadget: Samsung takes the wraps off its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8, on Wednesday in New York. This is an important device for the company, which hasn’t launched a flagship smartphone since last February and is still recovering from reports of its Galaxy Note 7 catching fire or exploding. The S8 reportedly will have a 6-inch touchscreen, a 12-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front camera and an iris scanner.

Labor vote: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is expected to approve R. Alexander Acosta’s nomination to be Labor secretary on Thursday. A law school dean and former Justice official, Acosta would be the only Latino in President Trump’s Cabinet if confirmed.

Consumer sentiment: The latest reading of consumer tea leaves comes out Friday from the University of Michigan. The index hit 96.3 in February, up sharply from 87.2 in October before the presidential election. So far this month, the university says, “the sentiment data has been characterized by rising optimism as well as by rising uncertainty due to the partisan divide” in Washington.

THE AGENDA

Odds are you’ve at least heard of Venmo, but there’s also a good chance you haven’t used it to send money to family or friends unless you are a millennial. That’s likely to change over the next few years, as banks, payment companies and even the likes of Google and Facebook push peer-to-peer payment systems into the mainstream. These mobile apps and online tools could someday overtake cash and checks as the primary way individuals exchange money.

STORY LINES

Here are some of the other stories that ran in the Times Business section in recent days that we’re continuing to follow:

Healthcare law: The Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare is dead for now after the GOP-controlled House was unable to muster sufficient votes for passage after defections by conservative and moderate Republicans. President Trump blamed Democrats for not getting behind efforts to undo former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement. “When you get no votes from the other side — meaning Democrats — it is really a difficult situation,” he said.

Iger stays put: Walt Disney Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Iger has extended his contract by one year. Iger, 66, previously was slated to leave the company at the end of June 2018. His new deal ends July 2, 2019. The move, which had been widely expected, gives Disney’s board more time to search for a successor — a process that has been closely watched by investors who’ve expressed concern over the apparent lack of progress on the issue.

Experian fined: Costa Mesa credit bureau Experian will pay a $3-million fine to settle a federal regulator’s claims that the firm sold credit scores that were of little or no use to consumers. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s allegations against Experian are similar to those made against the nation’s two other major credit bureaus, Transunion and Equifax, which reached a larger settlement in January. The CFPB said the credit bureaus offered consumers “educational credit scores,” which are different from the scores the credit bureaus provide to lenders.

Shipshape II: Operators of the struggling Queen Mary tourist attraction in Long Beach say the best way to make it financially viable again is to beef it up with more dining, shopping, concerts and adventures such as zip-lining. Plans for a $250-million entertainment complex on the bayfront adjacent to the historic cruise ship called Queen Mary Island were drawn up by Urban Commons, the real estate firm that operates the Queen Mary. Revenue would help pay for desperately needed repairs to the luxury liner.

Headset trouble: It’s an unusually cunning robocall scam. The phone rings. You pick it up and say, “Hello.” There’s a brief silence and then a woman’s voice says, “Oh, hi there!” She offers an embarrassed laugh. “I’m sorry, I was having a little trouble with my headset!” Whatever you do, don’t say yes to her questions. Your voice could be recorded, and you could be signed up for stuff you don’t want.

WHAT WE’RE READING

And some recent stories from other publications that caught our eye:

New Detroit? Bloomberg looks under the hood of Alabama’s auto jobs boom. What it finds is that “employees work ungodly hours, six or seven days a week, for months on end. Pay is low, turnover is high, training is scant, and safety is an afterthought, usually after someone is badly hurt.”

Yuge: The New Yorker profiles hedge fund tycoon Robert Mercer, who backs President Trump bigly. “He has had surprising success in aligning the Republican Party, and consequently America, with his personal beliefs, and is now uniquely positioned to exert influence over the Trump Administration.”

Questionable holdings: Rolling Stone says President Trump’s pick to run the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, has some strange family holdings. He’s linked to firms that appear to help businesses hide their assets. “The worst-case scenario is a string of shell companies that end in an opaque offshore haven.”

Bumpy road: Uber is aiming to straighten up and fly right, the AP reports. But that may be a difficult goal to accomplish. “The backlash to the recent revelations about Uber’s culture has resulted in management defections, including the recent resignation the company’s president, Jeff Jones, after just six months on the job.”

Error message: The Atlantic asks why Silicon Valley is so awful to women. Female techies say they love the opportunities in their industry. “Yet all of them had stories about incidents that, no matter how quick or glancing, chipped away at their sense of belonging and expertise.”

SPARE CHANGE

That story about Silicon Valley sexism makes me think about blatant sexism in the movies. There’s lots to choose from, obviously, going all the way back to silent films and their ubiquitous damsels in distress.

Some glaring more recent examples: Bryce Dallas Howard’s inability to ditch her high heels while fleeing carnivorous dinosaurs in “Jurassic World,” Julia Roberts’ need to be rescued from a life of prostitution by rich, handsome Richard Gere in “Pretty Woman,” and basically everything having to do with the two “Sex and the City” flicks (but especially the ladies’ haute couture version of “I Am Woman,” as sung to an appreciative Abu Dhabi nightclub audience).

For the latest money news, go to www.latimes.com/business. Mad props to Scott J. Wilson for helping put this thing together.

Until next time, I’ll see you in the Business section.