Top 25 Fastest-Growing Jobs in California

Statewide, jobs grew from approximately 936,000 openings listed across the Internet in January 2013 to over 972,500 open job postings in August of the same year. This is an increase of 36,500 job vacancies or about 39% more available jobs in less than one year.

By September 2013, California had over 1,009,000 open job listings across the state and these jobs were not in the seasonal industries. Many jobs offered high pay, such as those in physical therapy and software engineering. Additional seasonal jobs would/will be added for the winter holiday season for an additional increase. The state Unemployment Rate was 8.5% during September 2013, reducing during the following year to 7.2% in September 2014.

By April 2015, the state showed advertisements of 325,526 openings, with a state Unemployment Rate reduced further in February 2015 to 6.9%, compared with 5.5% as a national average.

California added at least 32,300 jobs in education, health, professional services, and business services during January 2017, according to the DOL, at the same time that the state minimum wage increased from $10.00 to $10.50/hour. Construction jobs are beginning to increase as well.

By March 2017, the state showed at least 380,000 job listings on leading search engines SimplyHired and Indeed; with DOL figures showing 18.2 million people working out of about 19.2 million individuals eligible to work.

Los Angeles is the largest incorporated city in the State of California. From June, 2008 to December, 2009 (spanning the change in presidential administration in Washington DC), the city experienced an increase of 22% in Internet-logged job listings, according to leading job search, trending, and aggregating engines.

From 2010-2012, California's statewide increase in numbers of jobs was consistent until March of 2012, thanks in part to the growing aerospace Industry.

Job listings declined from March-December, 2012, but began to increase rapidly again in January, 2013. Listings reached a 39% increase (or 39,500 more jobs) by August, 2013 and a total of over 1,000,000 jobs by September, 2013.

Despite the Great Recession and severe financial problems in several of California's cities, many metropolitan areas of California experienced actual job growth (see chart below).

Job Listing Increases in California Cities During 2013

1. Santa Ana 68% increase in advertised jobs
2. Irvine–58% increase
3. San Francisco–89% increase
4. Anaheim–75% increase
5. Bakersfield–63% increase
6. Fresno–49% increase
7. Pasadena–34% increase
8. San Jose–33% increase
9. Los Angeles–22% increase in job listings
   
10. Riverside–22% increase

Largest Job Decreases in California Cities During 2013

1. San Diego–62% decrease
2. Chula Vista–47% decrease
3. Modesto–36% decrease
4. San Bernardino–31% decrease
5. Fremont–8% decrease

These cities offer the largest number of California jobs:

1. San Francisco,
2. Los Angeles,
3. San Diego (a good recovery from the decrease shown in 2013),
4. San Jose,
5. Sacramento (State Capital),
6. Irvine,
7. Palo Alto,
8. Oakland,
9. Mountain View, and
10. Fresno.

Many of these employers are involved in aerospace, IT, energy, and defense, including the universities. Healthcare is another top industry.

1. 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego–US Navy
2. UCLA Health System in Los Angeles
3. UCLA in Los Angeles (University of California at Los Angeles)
4. Los Angeles County Sheriff in Monterey Park
5. Nestle USA in Glendale–Food manufacturing
6. Edwards Air Force Base in Lancaster–USAF
7. University Of California at San Diego
8. University Of California at San Francisco
9. University Of California at Berkeley
10. Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego

Additional Top Employers:

1. Score in Santa Barbara–SBA consultants
2. University of California at Irvine
3. Chevron Corporation–Oil & Gas
4. Cedars Sinai Medical Center in West Hollywood
5. Cisco Systems in San Jose

1. Vons Grocers, Safeway Grocery Stores, and Superior Grocers
2. PetSmart: Retail pet supplies
3. Domino's Pizza, Pizza Hut, So Cal Pizza
4. CVS Health & Pharmacy: Retail, pharmacy technicians, managers, other
5. Soliant Health Staffing: A sponsor of the US Olympic Team. Nice website with information about different work settings, advances in medical fields, travel medicine, telemedicine, and much more than usually found on a job site.
6. Kaiser Permanente
7. McDonald's Franchisee Owners: Also managers and crew
8. Maxim Healthcare Services
9. Sutter Health
10. Dignity Health
11. Michaels: Crafts and home decor
12. O'Reilly Auto Parts
13. Centerline Drivers, LLC: CDL truck drivers
14. Supplemental Health Care
15. UTC Aerospace Systems
16. Lockheed Martin
17. SpaceX
18. Northrop Grumman
19. The Aerospace Corporation
20. Workbridge Associates

1. Construction jobs from helpers to journeymen: Concrete, electricians glass workers, HVAC, iron workers, insulation, masonry, roofing, others.
2. Web Developers
3. Statisticians
4. Solar Panel Installers
5. Software Engineers (Systems and Apps): Important in Healthcare, Finance, and Space Programs, as well as Manufacturing.
6. Biomedical Engineers
7. Nurse Practitioners (NPs): Often serve as physician assistants
8. Home Health Aids
9. Wait Staff, Cooks, Hosts and Hostesses
10. Computer Systems Analysts
11. CIS Managers
12. Sales Representatives
13. Managers and Assistant Managers, all fields
14. IT Project Managers
15. Administrative Assistants and Secretaries
16. Salespeople
17. Account Executives
18. Data Engineers
19. Financial Advisors
20. Registered Nurses (RNs)
21. Application Architects
22. Procurement Managers
23. Business Analysts
24. Financial Analysts
25. Mechanical Engineers and Systems Engineers (Important in the Space Programs)

• Bakersfield, California Jobs: Construction, Insurance, Financial Products & Services Construction, insurance, and financial products jobs are being listed in central California, especially Kern County. Construction positions, including supervisors, fill most of the top 20 slots for high-demand jobs in Bakersfield.
• Jobs and Internships in Hidden Hills, CA The city of Hidden Hills, California, a suburb to the west of Los Angeles, is another wealthy city in Southern California. In the San Fernando Valley, Hidden Hills is Number 7 on the BusinessWeek Wealthiest 25 Cities in America.
• Sustainable Industry Jobs in the Inland Empire The Inland Empire contains two counties in southern California, east of Los Angeles. The fastest growing industries include tourism, wholesale trade, logistics, healthcare, bioengineering medicine, food products, and technologies.
• Lincoln, CA–Electric Cars and Alternative Energy Lincoln, California is a hot spot for alternative energies and fuels, especially electric cars called LEVs.
• Sacramento, California Business development and new jobs are growing in Sacramento, one of the Top 25 Best US Cities for jobs, according to major business analysts Forbes and others. Long-term, high-paying careers are available in several areas.
• Hot Jobs in Stockton California Stockton, California was home to 300,000 in 2012. It features active ports on thousands of miles of clear waterways in what is well known as the California Delta and is where one if the state's major colleges is located.

The state of California expects the following 25 job titles to increase in numbers by higher percentages than other occupations to 2016, although healthcare-related jobs will likely increase after 2016 as well (reference: State Occupational Projections).

1. Personal Care Aides and Home Health Aides
2. Food Prep and Service; Wait Staff; Cooks; Supervisors of all positions
3. Software Developers
4. Laborers and Material Movers
5. Registered Nurses, from 2-year degree to PhD
6. Managers in all fields
7. Retail Salespeople, CSRs, and related Supervisors
8. Carpenters, Electricians and their helpers; Construction Laborers
9. Office Clerks, Stock Clerks
10. Accountants and Auditors
11. IT Management Analysts
12. Computer Systems and Network Analysts
13. Market Research Analysts and Specialists
14. First-Line Supervisors in Offices
15. Janitors and Cleaners
16. Sales Representatives
17. Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
18. Medical Assistants (often Nurse Practitioners)
19. Truck Drivers; CDL license
20. Farmers: Crop and animal