Labor market reports will guide community college faculty and students in a fast-changing economy

LOS ANGELES, CA (December 16, 2019) –  In a continuing effort to guide students and jobseekers to living wage employment and careers in the region, several new reports authored by the LAEDC for the Center for a Competitive Workforce (CCW), a regional Strong Workforce initiative and collaboration between the LAEDC and LA Basin’s 19 community colleges, forecast more than 200,000 job openings across 41 middle-skill occupations.

These reports include 5-year data on the number of job openings, the supply of talent from the region’s community college system, average forecasted wage levels, an assessment of each occupation’s automation risk, a crosswalk of inter-occupation transferable skills, and much more.  Each of the profiled ‘middle-skill’ occupations is accessible with more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s degree, pay above a living wage and will provide opportunities for gainful employment for many thousands of Angelinos over the next half-decade.

The analysis is useful to college faculty as they develop new or revise existing career education programs, curricula and stackable certificates that are industry-driven and adaptive to the speed of labor market changes within LA’s knowledge-based economy. In addition, the reports’ analyses are useful to local employers who must identify reliable sources of talent to fill their employee ranks, as well for job-seekers, incumbent workers, students and those unemployed people who want to know which occupations offer entry and where to find the requisite technical skills to advance their career prospects.

In addition to a newly revised, comprehensive baseline report, titled: “Powering Economic Opportunity,” CCW commissioned LAEDC to complete sector scans for three industries that are highly concentrated in the L.A. region: retail, hospitality, and transportation warehousing and utilities, as well as a report on High Growth Middle-Skill Occupations within industries that may not be as geographically clustered in the LA region.  All the reports are available and free to download  at the CCW website, and copies may be requested of these and all of the previous reports.

A sampling of selected high-growth middle-skill occupations and forecasted job openings over 5 years:

• Bookkeeping, Accounting and Auditing Clerks (28,278 openings)
• Registered Nurses (RN) (23,670 openings)
• Teacher Assistants (19,800 openings)
• Carpenters (14,330 openings)
• Computer User Support Specialists (13,770 openings)
• Electricians (9,240 openings)
• Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVN) (9,070 openings)
• Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks (8,420 openings)
• Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics (8,250 openings)
• Social and Human Service Assistants (7,720 openings)
• Dental Assistants (7,700 openings)
• Police and Sheriff’s Patrol Officers (7,100 openings)
• Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters (6,830 openings)
• Paralegals and Legal Assistants (5,410 openings)
• Pharmacy Technicians (4,250 openings)
• Web Developers (3,210 openings)
• Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks (2,965 openings)
• Human Resources Assistants (2,214 openings)
• Logisticians (2,244 openings)
• Aircraft Mechanics (1,587 openings)

Additional occupations analyzed include: Avionics Technicians, Chefs, Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Electrical and Electronics Utility Repairers, Electrical Power Line Installers, Hair Dressers and Cosmetologists, Heating Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers, Industrial Machinery Mechanics, Insurance Sales Agents, Lodging Managers, Machinists, Massage Therapists, Social and Human Service Assistants, Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers, and Welders-Cutters-Solderers-Brazers.

“These reports illuminate opportunities for Southern California’s community colleges and will spur partnerships with local businesses, but more importantly, this report will also help inform students, who ultimately drive demand for programs that will help them launch their careers,” said Dr. Erika Endrijonas, Superintendent/President of Pasadena City College, one of the 19 community colleges partnering with LAEDC in the Center for a Competitive Workforce.

“This work helps our talent development systems and institutions provide pathways for more of our residents into less automatable, more highly skilled and high-growth occupations that pay well,” said Jessica Ku Kim, Senior Workforce Director at LAEDC.

Upcoming CCW labor market reports will include LA’s manufacturing industries (January 2020), LA’s information and communications technology industries (Spring 2020), LA’s protective services industry (Spring 2020) and LA’s construction industry (Spring 2020).  Previous reports include; Professional Services in the LA Basin, Health Care Services in the LA Basin, Entertainment and Digital Media in the LA Basin.

CCW is funded by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office as a Strong Workforce Program Los Angeles Regional Project.

About the CCW     www.CompetitiveWorkforce.LA

Center for a Competitive Workforce (CCW) was established in 2017 as a Strong Workforce Program regional project, a collaboration among the 19 Los Angeles County community colleges of the LA/OC Regional Consortium, the Los Angeles/Orange County Center of Excellence for Labor Market Research and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp (LAEDC). The CCW’s mission is to produce regional economic intelligence reports to better align labor market supply and demand, support industry-driven career education and workforce development programs, and strengthen industry engagement across the L.A. Basin. This supports a well-informed regional workforce development system positioned to train, educate and upskill residents with the knowledge and skills to be competitive for 21st century jobs and careers in the knowledge-intensive industries that drive the regional economy now and in the future.

Media relations contact:  Lawren Markle at LAEDC, 213-236-4847, Lawren.Markle@laedc.org