April 11 (Bloomberg) — Los Angeles's future is threatened by a sixfold increase in public pension costs and dueling bureaucracies that hinder its ports and tourism, according to a panel led by former U.S. Commerce Secretary Mickey Cantor.

The second-largest U.S. city could be more competitive if the nation's busiest seaport complex, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, were to merge and regional tourism agencies were combined to speak with one voice, according to the report by the L.A. 2020 Commission.

The recommendations came the week after economists at the University of California, Los Angeles reported that Los Angeles lost 3.1 percent of payroll jobs since 1990, the biggest drop of any U.S. metropolitan area. The panel's proposals are intended to reverse the trend, Cantor said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.