If you’re unemployed and you live in Southern California, you may want to start looking for jobs in Orange County.
A report recently released by the University of Redlands Institute for Spatial Economic Analysis, says the region is a hiring hot spot.
The year over year job growth has continued at a pace of 3 percent. Broken down, that’s about 31,500 people who are newly employed just in the past year.
Orange County’s June unemployment rate of 7.9 percent was the lowest in Southern California with a majority of cities in the county seeing a boom. They are Los Alamitos, La Palma, Fullerton, Yorba Linda, Anaheim, Orange, Garden Grove, Rossmoor, Tustin, Irvine, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, South Laguna, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente and Portola Hills.
A year ago, things were a lot different. Job growth was dismal, just 0.6 percent or less than 3,000 jobs. In fact, the county lost nearly 14,000 jobs in June 2010.
What a difference a year makes. How is Orange County able to sustain such growth?
“Orange County is a hot bed for innovation and growth, fostering jobs creation and transforming the area into one of the most economically competitive regions in the world. The County boasts a largely diverse economy, vibrant and engaged business community, world-class infrastructure and education systems, and a strategic geographic location for international trade, all of which form the core of its global competitive advantage,“ said Lucy Dunn, President and CEO of the Orange County Business Council.
The region “has a knack for doing things just a little bit differently, and the focus on jobs creation through innovative strategies like public-private partnerships remains the number one priority for continued economic development.”
The study also finds the year over year job growth in the Inland Empire is much improved with some cities growing between a 1 percent to 3 percent pace, and a few locations more than 3 percent. Those cities with significant gains include Rialto, Highland, Fontana, Colton, Pedley, Edgemont, Corona, El Cerrito, Perris, and Palm Desert.
Johannes Moenius, Institute director, told the OC Register, “Orange County’s strength is spilling over into the Inland Empire, where 40 percent of residents work” in the area.
“If they live in the Inland Empire and work in Orange County, they are bringing that income back and it’s going to fuel jobs here,” said Moenius.
The Inland Empire is also reaping the benefits from an increase in warehouse and logistics jobs. Amazon is the newest company to set up shop there.
Job creation was an important topic at the California Economic Summit convened in May. Action teams continue to work to increase the state’s ability to compete on a global basis.
