Los Angeles benefits from a population base of about 4 million residents and a highly diversified economy with a strong foundation of core industries
LEADING ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS
Los Angeles is home to some of the best higher learning in the world. In 2015 universities in Los Angeles, California awarded 72,572 degrees. With Caltech, UCLA, USC, Loyola University, and Occidental College on the map, Greater Los Angeles has long been home to some of the best higher learning in the world.
Cal Tech University is ranked in the top 5 universities in the World with an impressive number of successful graduates and affiliates, including 72 Nobel Laureates, six Turing Award winners and four Fields Medalists.
Loyola Marymount University’s College of Business Administration has received more than $1 million in US Department of Education funding to expand international business education initiatives.
USC was found to be one of California’s strongest economic engines in an independent economic impact study by Beacon Economics. The study found that USC spurs $8 billion annually in economic activity in the Los Angeles region and California.
Cal State LA was ranked 8th among master's universities in the nation in Washington Monthly's 2015 College Guide. Ratings were based on the school's contribution to the public good in social mobility, research, and service to society.
LOCAL ECONOMY
*Los Angeles is one of the most dynamic economies in the world, with a fast-growing and immense high-tech industry, world-leading creative economy, tremendous strength in aerospace and advanced transportation, the nation’s largest manufacturing base, the nation’s largest international trade industry, and a rapidly increasing amount of venture capital investment in startups.
With over a dozen major industries, the LA region is also known for innovation as creative collisions occur where industries overlap, driving new business concepts and entirely new sectors, making LA the creative capital of the nation. All this success can be traced to a highly diverse, skilled workforce and visionaries who are reinventing everything from transit to translational medicine. As venture capitalist Mark Suster said, “What I love about LA is it represents the best our country has to offer. LA is a leader amongst the most cohesive large cities I can think of in the world.”
From 2015 to 2016, employment in Los Angeles grew at a rate of 1.57%, from 1.96 million to 1.99 million employees. The most common job groups in the period, by number of people living in Los Angeles County, are Management, Business, Science and Arts; Sales and Office; and Hospitality Industry occupations.
The LA Promise Zone within the boundaries of Los Angeles Opportunity Zones
The LA Promise Zone is a collective impact project involving leaders from government, local institutions, non-profits and community organizations that targets resources to create jobs, boost public safety, improve public education and stimulate better housing opportunities for our residents and neighborhoods.
Nearly one-quarter of Promise Zone households earn less than $15,000 each year, and educational attainment for adults is weak with 35% of the population 25 years of age and older having obtained less than a high school diploma.
The LA Promise Zone is comprised of five ethnically and linguistically diverse neighborhoods based in Central Los Angeles – Hollywood, East Hollywood, Pico-Union, Westlake and Wilshire Center. These communities face a series of challenges greatly attributed to a large number of families living in poverty.
South LA Promise Zone Map
The South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z) is an historic and unprecedented partnership of over 50 public, private, and community-based organizations dedicated to revitalizing South Los Angeles by moving residents to economic opportunity. The SLATE-Z collaborative successfully won the HUD Promise Zone designation for South LA in 2016, a designation expected to last at least ten years.
As a place-based initiative, the SLATE-Z catchment area is home to approximately 197,539 residents in parts of the following neighborhoods of the City of Los Angeles: Vernon-Central, South Park, Florence, Exposition Park, Vermont Square, Leimert Park, and Baldwin Hills Crenshaw. The SLATE-Z boundaries follow along major transit lines that come into and through South LA in order to capitalize on revitalization opportunities related to transit-oriented development and education, training, and job opportunities accessible to residents via transit.
The total population within SLATE-Z is approximately 197,539, comprised of a relatively young population: 66% are of working age (18-64), 25% are youth under 18, and only 8% are 65 years or older.
Because of the many systematic barriers to educational attainment and living wage employment, improving educational outcomes and workforce development are two core pieces of the SLATE-Z strategic plan to connect residents to economic opportunity. The SLATE-Z partnership believes that the most significant asset in South LA is the social and human capital among residents and a collection of institutions committed to working together to revitalize the community.
ANCHOR INSTITUTIONS
Anchor institutions are nonprofit institutions that once established tend not to move location. Emerging trends related to globalization — such as the decline of manufacturing, the rise of the service sector, and a mounting government fiscal crisis — suggest the growing importance of anchor institutions to local economies.
LA boasts several anchor institutions in multiple sectors that include established high school and elementary (pipeline) districts, higher education institutions, healthcare facilities and large, embedded employers in multiple growth industries.
Research Hospitals
Los Angeles is home some the leading research and teaching hospitals including the UCLA Medical Center, USC’s Keck School of Medicine, Keck Graduate Institute, The City of Hope, Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, The Doheny and Stein Eye Institutes and a number of other specialized research facilities, such as the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute.
Universities
Home of the some of world-leading research universities working on new technologies, cures, and solutions to global challenges, and training next generation of scientists and entrepreneurs. These Universities include Caltech, USC, UCLA and other regional universities including the Cal State (CSU) system are also conducting substantial R&D and creating Intellectual Property (IP), which contributes to commercialization potential for businesses in the region.
Community College and Vocational Schools
All community college in the area are part of the Los Angeles College Promise program, which gives LAUSD high school graduates one FREE year of college. For example, Los Angeles Trade Tech College offers 9 pathway meta-majors with 97 programs of study and hundreds of courses, as well as partnerships with industries and employers that provide high-demand, high-paid careers for graduates.
Major Employers in Los Angeles
Los Angeles Unified School District
University of California, LA
Children’s Hospital of LA
University of Southern California
Northrop Grumman Corp.
Providence Health & Services
Target Corp.
Ralphs/Food 4 Less (Kroger Co.)
Kaiser Permanente Health Care Co.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
AT&T Inc.
AECOM
Farmers Insurance Exchange
CBRE Group Inc.
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.
Live Nation Entertainment Inc.
Avery Dennison Corp.
Walt Disney Co., Burbank
LOS ANGELES ECONOMIC INCENTIVE AREAS MAP
map provided by the City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning
This WIOA Title I financially assisted program or activity is an equal opportunity employer/program. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities. For assistance with WIOA funded program complaints or auxiliary aid accommodation requests, please visit our Contact Us page.
