Variety: "Hiring Freeze Spreads"

"Survival" jobs for actors and others in the entertainment industry are getting more and more scarce out here. Here is a little bit of an article that appeared in Tuesday's Variety. You can read the entire thing HERE:

Hollywood is feeling the chills of a hiring freeze.

Jobs that the creative community once relied on to stay afloat during rough times are themselves starting to dry up in this recession. That includes everything from directing assignments at commercial production houses to positions at restaurants, bars, hotels and retailers.

Even temp agencies have little to offer job seekers...

That's bad news for the hundreds of staffers who have been handed pinkslips at the major studios, networks, tenpercenteries and various shingles around town over the past year.

It's even worse for people who are struggling to break into the biz.

Ken Kaufman, a former TV producer and current owner of Rush Street restaurant in Culver City, Calif., said most of his employees are actors, writers or people looking to start a career in Hollywood.

"L.A. has a lot of young people coming to it every day, and they all have to find a way to survive and make a living," Kaufman said. This year, the threat of an actors strike and the ongoing production of pics outside Hollywood hasn't helped the job shortage...

Overall, the entertainment job market is down 19,200 posts from a high of 141,400 in 2008, according to Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

That has considerably reduced discretionary spending.

Retail jobs fell by 19,400 last month in L.A., while the leisure and hospitality sector was off by 8,100...

The situation's not expected to change anytime soon...