The dominant role played by aerospace and other military-related production in the Southern Californian economy for decades has shaped the local geography of industrial development and contributed to the emergence of specialized spatial labor markets linking defense-related employment sites with the homes of defense-sector workers. But the recent decline in defense-related employment is bringing economic dislocation to the region, which will be felt most intensely by those workers and neighborhoods with strong and long-established ties to the sector. In this paper, the major sites of defense-related production in Los Angeles County are identified and the social and spatial position of segments of the defense sector labor force in the region are described. Defense-dependent communities are identified, and the implications of defense spending cuts on groupings of workers and on communities are discussed.
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