A Guide to the 2022 Los Angeles Job Market

Are you ready to leave your life behind and move to the big city of Los Angeles? To make it happen, you'll need a job — and a big paycheck.

SmartAsset, utilizing data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator, suggests that life in Los Angeles comes with a hefty price tag.

An excellent job in a growth industry could get you the big salary you're hoping for, but LA has a few declining job markets you'll need to steer clear of. You could get a big paycheck now, but in a year or two, that job could be gone altogether.

Here is what you need to know to make it as a prosperous resident of LA.

Will you find a job in a heartbeat? Or will you need to hustle to find a gig? Unemployment job numbers help you plan for the future. And when it comes to LA, you have both good news and bad to digest.

California's unemployment rate was 4.9% in March of 2022, researchers say. That puts it nearly at the number it was prior to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly affected the last two years:

• March 2021: 10.4%
• March 2020: 6.7%
• March 2019: 4.4%
• March 2018: 4.5%

Those numbers are improving every month, analysts say. In fact, California has been steadily adding jobs at three times the rate of the country at large. This has led to the state regaining nearly 90 percent (2,463,400) of the 2,758,900 nonagricultural jobs lost during March and April of 2020. These jobs are being added at a record pace, with hundreds of thousands of new jobs encompassing everything from leisure and business to health and education added to the local economy in just two years' time.

As you can see, the job market is booming in California, not unlike a 21st century gold rush for professionals seeking employment.

While overall numbers look good, you'll see fluctuations between market sectors. If you are searching for a job right now, it's best to focus on those areas with the most job openings. There are several to choose from.

California's Employment Development Department suggests that hot job sectors to consider include:

• Solar Photovoltaic Installers. The term photovoltaic refers to the process of converting the sun’s energy into electric energy. If working primarily outdoors is your thing, you should consider this line of work.
  
• Occupational Therapy Assistants. This job assists occupational therapists in providing therapy treatments and procedures.
  
• Statistician. Statisticians use mathematical techniques to analyze and interpret data and draw conclusions. If you love math, and are detail-oriented, look no further.

If you have a background in any of these job sectors, it's time to start applying for open positions. These areas all have robust growth, and that means there should be job openings right now.

While some jobs survive trying times, others fall away. There are a few job sectors in LA that are highly volatile in both good and bad ways. With COVID seemingly in the rearview, taking a flyer on one of these positions could be beneficial — or lead to the unemployment line.

Sectors that have lost the most jobs in LA, per the California Employment Development Department, include:

• Business services. This was the biggest loss leader between February and March 2022. More than 2,800 positions disappeared, mostly related to administration.
  
• Leisure and hospitality. This sector was hit the hardest during COVID, losing as many as 252,900 jobs during the pandemic. However it's not all bad. Today it leads all sectors with gains, recovering 74 percent of the positions it shed in 2020.
  

Jobs are fluctuating across the board, but the unprecedented boom LA is experiencing in its market means that even these sectors are rebounding in ways few could have expected when the pandemic was raging.

Some people are looking for new jobs right now. Current data is critical for them. But if you're hoping to make a switch later in the year, you'll need more long-range information to inform your decisions. Researchers have examined the trends and identified a few positions on the rise.

The organization LA Tourism reminds readers that Los Angeles has always been home to moviemakers and entertainment. Those jobs remain, but other sectors experiencing growth include:

• Aerospace. There are several aerospace companies at work within Los Angeles County. If you're an engineer, technician, researcher, or space nut, this could be a place you can call home.
  
• Bioscience. Plenty of teaching hospitals exist within Los Angeles, and there are many research facilities too. If you're interested in researching cures for chronic disease, or you've always wanted to work in a lab to help your fellow doctors do their jobs a bit better, LA could be just right for you.
  
• Startups. You could be part of a team building and demonstrating the next wave of autonomous vehicles, or you could help companies develop better biofuels. LA is a hotbed of research and capital.
  
• Fashion. The entertainment industry bleeds into other job sectors. Stars and starlets need innovative clothes. Costume designers need help too. As a fashion professional, you could develop or sell those clothes. There are plenty of top brands at work in LA right now.

Hoping to leap onto the next big wave of employment opportunities, long before anyone else knows this trend is happening? You're in luck. There are plenty of small industries flying under the radar of employment experts. Any of them could provide you with the job and paycheck you've been hoping for.

Industries on the move include:

• Digital media. We're moving through a time of technological innovation, and it's changing what we consider entertainment. LA is at the center of that transformation, experts say, and small companies are popping up to help. You could join one and help to produce visual effects, build interactive games, and more. You'll need a strong background in arts and technology to make it work, but these are jobs that tend to come with high salaries.
  
• Manufacturing. When we think of jobs in this sector, we often focus on people working in large factories with big machines. Jobs like that exist in LA, reporters say, but it's more common to find big, planning jobs. You could help to develop the next system of highways to carry people from one place to another, build massive airplanes, or create shipping routes for the whole country.
  
• Food and drink. LA innovators help to create new flavors for soft drinks, chips, and more. Companies also source fruits and vegetables from local farms and ship them all across the country to local families. California researchers also look for ways to ensure that food is produced in a green and ethical manner, so the country stays healthier.

The job market in LA is diverse. California's reputation for innovation and experimentation ensures that new opportunities will always appear, as long as there are people willing to do the work.

If you’re smart and ready to sell your idea, you could create your own job in an industry no one has ever heard of before. That could be easier to do in LA than anywhere else in the country.

Are you ready to get started on your LA job search? We can help. Whether you want to work in manufacturing, entertainment, health care, or something else altogether, we have opportunities for you.

Hop onto our website, and look for jobs within the Greater Los Angeles area. Sort your list by industry, and ensure you're only looking for the jobs you really want.

If you don't find something you love, don't get discouraged! We update our lists frequently, so check back to see what's new.

Do You Earn Enough to ‘Live Comfortably’ in Los Angeles? (March 2022). KTLA.

Unemployment Rate in Los Angeles County, LA. (March 2022). Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The California Economy: Unemployment Update. Public Policy Institute of California.

California’s Unemployment Falls to 4.9 Percent for March 2022. State of California Employment Development Department (EDD)

California’s Job Growth Tripled the Nation’s, even as the Delta Variant Spread. (September 2021). Los Angeles Times

L.A.'s Top Trailblazing Industries. (March 2019). L.A. Tourism.

Digital Media and Entertainment. Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.

What Gets Made in LA Is Way More Than Movies. (November 2015). National Public Radio.