WORKFORCE ANALYST

Identifying Workforce Demographics

Recognizing the need for workforce development to reflect regional dynamics, the Anaheim WIB works to assure stable employment for its distinctive workforce, and secure the city's manufacturing base. Anaheim's manufacturing sector provides twenty percent of the city's employment and impacts another thirty percent. "The Canyon," situated in Anaheim's eastern expanse, sustains the largest contiguous manufacturing base in Orange County.

As a doorway to the middle class for many without a college degree, manufacturing jobs offer Anaheim workers the best paying jobs for entry level positions, room for advancement, and sustainable, long-term wage earning opportunities. Among its multilingual citizenry, Hispanics make up nearly half of Anaheim's populace while the city's Latino population is the second largest in Orange County. Anaheim is home to 1,266 manufacturing firms that supply 37,000 positions providing competitive salaries, predominantly to workers without higher education.

Aligning industry dynamics and workforce characteristics, Anaheim WIB identifies three spheres of workforce development: positioning new workers in jobs vacated by retirees, retraining incumbent employees in high-tech industry advances, and connecting the region's underemployed populations with living-wage manufacturing jobs. While the Board works to provide practical means of matching workers' skills with industry needs, it also endeavors to ensure the attractiveness of California's business climate.