Orange County Has Lowest Female Unemployment in US

Orange County has the lowest female unemployment rate in the country. In the last five years, female employment has grown significantly in the market, with employment falling from 8.7% to 5.3% today, according to research from JLL. Of the most populated counties in the country, this is the lowest unemployment rate for women. Female employment in Orange County has also grown faster at a faster rate than the national average. Since 2000, female employment for non-farm jobs in Orange County increased 17%, compared to 12.2% growth nationally.

“Unemployment for the county, as well as the state as a whole, has reached record lows in the past year and female employment levels show that women in Orange County are not only not missing out on this economic expansion but are catalysts of it,” Paulina Torres, research analyst at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. “The county as a whole has been able to celebrate sustained economic expansion thanks to its diversified economy, a trait that has translated into increased gender diversity in the workplace. Orange County has experienced a trophy-worthy year in employment and female employment in particular has taken the driver’s seat.  Over the past 5 years, female unemployment has decreased from 8.7% to 5.3%, a reduction that is 0.8% greater than the male unemployment reduction in the county.”

The healthcare and education and government sectors have been the most successful in attracting female workers. According to the same JLL research, these two industries have the largest female workforce in the Orange County market. “With the country’s aging baby-boomer population and huge increases in medical spending, healthcare, in 2018, became the U.S.’ largest employer, surpassing manufacturing and retail, so it is no surprise that this sector has also seen the largest increases in female employment,” says Torres. “Moreover, with more women going into STEM fields than ever before and given the fact the healthcare has been a crucial component of Orange County’s increasingly diversified economy and continued economic expansion, this trend is expected to continue. A consistent statistic across the country is that educators are and have been overwhelmingly female. A fact in Orange County as women make up 70.6% of the population employed in education. As for government, women in this sector have the highest median earnings nationwide, as reported by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, and women make up a far greater percentage of senior leadership roles in the government sector than in the private sector.”

There is a strong case to be made for gender diversity. Studies show that a female presence in leadership roles enhances company performance. It makes sense: women make up more than half of the student population. “When more women work, economies grow. It is vital to have new perspectives in business as this has a direct impact in innovation and growth in the economy,” says Torres. “A hard lesson learned from the recession in the local economy, which was heavily influenced by the financial activities sector, is that diversification is crucial for sustainable growth. As the economy becomes more and more diversified, especially with industries like healthcare, technology, life sciences and business services, women will continue to establish a strong presence in the workplace.”

Gender diversity is only growing, especially as more women graduate from Southern California’s vast network of universities and join the workforce. Orange County is already positioned to be a leader. “It is the only county in the region with a female unemployment rate lower than the national average of 6%,” says Torres. “ The market is followed by San Diego with 6.6%, Los Angeles at 7.6%, San Bernardino with 9.4% and Riverside closely following with 9.5% female unemployment.”