At the height of the recession, Los Angeles officials spent a year and a half wooing a Chinese high-tech business to open its North America headquarters here, with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (I) traveling to China to persuade its executives. When the deal -- which included nearly $2 million in tax subsidies -- was announced in 2010, Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa (D) heralded the potential for hundreds of "high-paying green-collar jobs" from the company, BYD, which was looking to sell its electric cars, solar panels and batteries in the American market. Three and half years after its initial promise, the company has employed fewer than 40 workers here, and at least 5 of them are Chinese workers here temporarily, being paid in yuan an amount less than $8 an hour, California's minimum wage.
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