The Los Angeles COE was recently invited to present research findings regarding employment concentration, in-demand jobs, and recession-stable areas of the labor market at an Annual Advisory Committee Breakfast hosted by Cerritos College.

Key findings discussed by Luke Meyer, LA COE director, included:

• 26% of all jobs in the state are in Los Angeles County.
• Slower job growth is projected in the county over the next five years compared to the state, but the county is still expected to add more than 313,000 jobs.
• Employment is most concentrated in four industry sectors – health care and social assistance, government, retail trade, and accommodation and food services.
• 42% of jobs in the county are middle skill, requiring some college education or a high school diploma and additional training. This percentage is far greater than the share of jobs that require a bachelor’s degree or higher, 25%, indicating the continued need for community college programs.

Meyer also shared findings showing that Cerritos College’s service area largely reflects the same concentration of industries as the county but has a higher employment concentration in two other industry sectors – manufacturing, and administrative and support and waste management and remediation services.

Using the lens of “education typically required,” the presentation also examined labor market demand for specific occupations. Jobs requiring an associate degree with the most annual openings include dental hygienists, paralegals and legal assistants, and physical therapy assistants. A separate analysis on recession-stable occupations requiring a bachelor’s degree shows the most demand for registered nurses, business operations specialists (all other), and producers and directors.At a separate event also hosted by Cerritos College, Meyer also presented data and summarized findings from Lightcast’s study on the economic impact that Cerritos College has on the community, with a focus on the return on investment for students, taxpayers, and society, as a whole. The Economic Development Summit was held in April to direct attention toward the incoming workforce and how Cerritos College plays a critical role in workforce development in southeast Los Angeles County.