Great Careers in Los Angeles That Aren’t in Entertainment or Tech

When you think of LA, you probably picture Hollywood and tech startups – maybe even the tourism industry. But Los Angeles offers much more to young professionals than glitz, glamour, and artificial intelligence.

If you’re looking for a new position in this sprawling, sunny city, but you’re not interested in tech or entertainment, there are plenty of opportunities out there for you. Here are just some of the other industries that are booming in Los Angeles.

Manufacturing

Believe it or not, Los Angeles employs far more people in the manufacturing sector than it does in entertainment. While entertainment accounts for 4% of jobs (roughly 76.6k) in the city, manufacturing employs 8.5% of the workforce (162k people.)

In fact, Los Angles has the largest manufacturing market, in the United States, followed by Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Detroit. The city of Los Angeles is very large, which means that there is a lot of space for factories and other spaced required for manufacturing. It is also an extremely populated city, meaning that there are a lot of people living there. The large population is, in turn, a vast talent pool and customer base.

LA also has a lot of ports – both air and sea – which makes logistics a breeze. Manufacturers can easily ship products all over the world using these ports. Additionally, they can receive the raw materials they need to make their products using these means.

Healthcare

An even bigger magnet for careers in Los Angeles is healthcare. This industry is the largest in the city with 226k employees, which is roughly 11.9% of the Los Angeles workforce. Between 2001 and 2016, the LA area had an 18.6% boom in job growth in this sector.

Medical office buildings, urgent care, facilities, and hospitals are becoming more prominent fixtures in the area, especially in Burbank. Because Los Angeles is such a populated area, many facilities are needed to prevent overcrowded hospitals and waiting rooms. With more, localized options for the population, more people can be seen quickly and quality care can be administered.

There are many schools and research hospitals in the Los Angeles area, including the UCLA Medical Center, Caltech, USC’s Keck School of Medicine, and Cedars-Sinai Hospital. These and other research facilities are pushing the boundaries of biomedical research and bioscience. This makes the city a global leader in this field, as brilliant minds work on everything from perfecting robotic limbs to finding a cure for HIV.

Construction

The construction industry offers some of the greatest careers in Los Angeles. With a dense population and a sprawling landscape, construction projects abound. And these are not small projects, either. In 2017, the top five construction projects in the area all costed over $1 billion. It’s no wonder that the construction industry employs an estimated 116k people.

It’s not just buildings that LA construction firms are tackling these days. Transportation is also a huge undertaking in this city. The Delta SkyWay addition to the Los Angeles International airport, the Central Valley section of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, and next phase of the Midfield Satellite Concourse at LAX are all multi-billion-dollar projects which are among the largest to break ground last year.

Green energy is another factor that is causing the construction market to boom. California has a Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires eligible renewable resources to produce half of the state’s electricity. Therefore, old energy plants are being closed down and replaced with eco-friendly, efficient ones. This shift provides a lot of opportunities for those seeking careers in Los Angeles.

These are just a few of the sectors offering opportunities for qualified candidates in LA, even if they aren’t interested in the tech or entertainment industries. So if you are seeking a job in Los Angeles, check out our job postings. If you choose to apply, one of our expert recruitment consultants will be in touch with relevant opportunities.