Health care and business jobs are growing the most across the nation as the U.S. population ages and the Baby Boomer generation retires, according to a real estate study. Santa Clarita Valley experts affirmed the study’s findings locally.
Commercial Café, a nationwide commercial real estate listing platform, released data on July 25 that highlighted the fastest-growing jobs in the country. In California, personal care aide careers reached the top of the charts with a staggering 1,209% increase over the last decade — a reflection of the national trend.
“When broken out by industry type on the state level, we see that business and health care jobs have grown the most in 30 of the 48 continental states,” said the study, which detailed that personal care aide jobs rose 251% in the past 10 years with more than 2.2 million jobs nationwide.
Data also showed that 14.3% of all employees in California work in the health care sector, 35.9% in business and 3.6% in information technology.
In the SCV, an estimated 1,700 jobs were created in the local economy in 2018, which represented a 1.9% rate of employment growth, according to the 2019 Economic Outlook report prepared by the California Economic Forecast and presented by the SCV Economic Development Corp. and College of the Canyons. Leisure and hospitality, health care and construction are expected to drive much of the job creation in 2019.
“Health care is a fast-growing sector in the Santa Clarita Valley and it’s not surprising, which is appropriate because our population is growing,” said Holly Schroeder, president and CEO of the SCVEDC. “We’re also seeing substantial growth in scientific and technical jobs, and so that’s a really good balance.”
Other industries picking up speed in the SCV are technology and film/entertainment, according to Jason Crawford, planning, marketing and economic development manager with the city.
“With companies like Scorpion making the fastest growing lists and with the increase in sound stages housing TV productions, we know that the technology and film/entertainment industries are increasing their presence and jobs here,” he said.
An estimated 6,000 city residents are employed by the entertainment industry alone, which has generated about $33.4 million in economic impact to the local community, according to the Santa Clarita Film Office.
With multiple development projects underway across the SCV, construction is also one of the sectors expected to grow in the coming years, the Economic Outlook report said.
“As more office and industrial projects in the pipeline are completed, job growth in the professional business sector will accelerate,” the report read. “This is especially true regarding the Newhall Ranch development, which will produce a substantial volume of new commercial and office square feet.”
In 2018, jobs in construction soared by more than 800 positions due to projects such as Needham Ranch and the IAC Commerce Center. With vertical construction at Newhall Ranch and as Skyline Ranch grows, the forecast calls for increased opportunities for construction workers, the report added.
Other fast-growing jobs in the nation were market specialists, financial examiner, engineers and architects, event planners, merchandising and manicurists and pedicurists, according to the Commercial Café study.
