Labor Day in SoCal: Which jobs are hot, which are not, and where

Where you work can affect what you earn in Southern California, and the coastal counties are the place to go for a bigger paycheck.

For the Inland area, the average hourly wage is 6 percent below the national average. In Los Angeles, it’s 12 percent higher, and Orange County tops the trio at 13 percent higher, according to recent U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics reports that used figures from May 2016.

But many Inland wage earners are not tied to local jobs — 30.4 percent of Riverside and San Bernardino county residents report they work outside the county they live in. While that is certain to include some commuting between the two Inland counties, many head to the coastal counties for work.

Economists who look at Inland earnings prefer to use the U.S. Census Bureau’s numbers, which looks at income not confined by geography.

The median household income for Riverside County is $56,503, compared with Los Angeles County’s $56,196, according to 2015 numbers. The income mark is $53,433 for San Bernardino County, and Orange County again tops the numbers at $76,509.

Under U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which only looks at what jobs pay inside the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario economic zone, the mean annual wage is $46,820.

Some jobs that pay well nationally and in the coastal counties generate smaller paychecks in the Inland area, and make up a smaller percentage of the workforce as well.

Management, business and financial operations, and computer and mathematical positions all fall into that category for the Inland area. Business and financial operations are 3.7 percent of the Inland workforce, but 5.2 percent nationally. And the national pay average is $36.09, but $31.45 for Inland workers in that category, a drop of 13 percent.

In the Los Angeles and Orange County economic zones, pay for that job category is 7 percent higher than the national average, in both counties.

Doing better than the rest of the nation are Inland jobs in community and social service jobs, education, training and library, and healthcare practitioners and technical workers. While the workforce percentages are not significantly different from national figures, the pay is.

Community and social service workers in the Inland area earn an average hourly wage of $26.19, or 15 percent higher than the national average of $22.69. That same category also thrives in the coastal areas, with pay 11 percent higher than the national average in Orange County, 15 percent in Los Angeles County.

Logistics — the e-commerce distribution centers and warehouses across the Inland area — is 10.8 percent of the Inland workforce, well above the national average of 6.9 percent. But the hourly wages are comparatively flat for transportation and material moving workers, an average of $17.28 for Inland workers, 6 cents lower than the national figure.

Wages for the Inland area overall were lower in 8 of the 22 job groups the BLS uses for comparison, and nine groups had higher wages than the national average.

For the Orange County area, 16 of the 22 job groups had wages higher than the national average and for Los Angeles, 18 groups were higher than the national average for pay.

In a flip from the Inland area, Orange County has fewer logistics laborers than the national average, 5.1 percent of its workforce, and lower pay, $15.39 for an hourly wage, 11 percent lower than the national average. But the OC’s business and financial operations are 7 percent of its workforce, nearly 2 percent above the national average.

For Los Angeles, Hollywood gave a huge boost to the arts, design, entertainment, sports and media category, with a mean hourly wage of $41.53, or 48 percent higher than the national average.

Across-the-board is an upswing for construction and extraction; pay is 7 percent higher than the national average for the Inland area, 14 percent in Los Angeles and 11 percent for Orange County.

Hot jobs

Inland

Community and social service: Average hourly wage: $26.19, 15 percent higher than the national average.

Education, training and library: Average hourly wage: $29.07, 11 percent higher than the national average.

Healthcare practitioners and technical: Average hourly wage: $41.76, 10 percent higher than the national average.

Los Angeles

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media: Average hourly wage: $41.53, 48 percent higher than the national average.

Healthcare support: Average hourly wage: $17.09, 17 percent higher than the national average.

Protective service: Average hourly wage: $27.13, 23 percent higher than the national average.

Orange County

Sales and related jobs: Average hourly pay: $22.55, 16 percent above the national average.

Legal: Average hourly pay: $57.42, 13 percent above the national average.

Office and administrative support: Average hourly pay, $19.67, 10 percent above the national average.

Construction and extraction: Average hourly pay: $26.15, 11 percent above the national average.

Not so hot

Inland

Computer and mathematical: Average hourly pay: $37.04, 12 percent below the national average.

Management: Average hourly pay: $52.22, 8 percent below the national average.

Production: Average hourly pay: $16.80, 6 percent below the national average.

Los Angeles

Transportation and material moving: Average hourly pay, $17.52, just 1 percent above the national average.

Production: Average hourly pay: $16.80, 6 percent below the national average

Orange County

Transportation and material moving: Average hourly pay, $15.39, 11 percent below the national average.

Average hourly wages*

National: $23.86

Inland: $22.51

Los Angeles: $26.71

Orange County: $26.87

*U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, figures from May 2016.

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