Long established as the financial, commercial, and industrial capital of southern California, the sprawling Los Angeles metropolitan area is among the nation's leading urban-industrial complexes. The size of its population alone makes the Los Angeles metropolitan area California's biggest economic center, employing 30 percent of the state's workforce. It generates nearly one-third of the value of goods manufactured in the state and accounts for more than one-quarter of all retail and wholesale sales. The city also is a financial center for the western United States and a principal importer and exporter of international trade goods.
Although it directly employs only a small portion of the labor force, the motion-picture, television, and musical entertainment industry is one of Los Angeles's most famous activities. Many American movies and television programs are produced by local studios. Hollywood is the traditional movie capital, but studios and production centers today are scattered through the area. The region is also home to many of the country's recorded-music businesses. Because of its association with the entertainment industry, the Los Angeles area in the 1990s grew in importance as a center for multimedia production.
