Page 8 October 5, 2017
Future-of-Work Report Lends Direction to Local Colleges
- Sales, business development and
relationship management.
- Lean manufacturing and quality
management.
The bright lights of the local entertainment
and media arts industries are attracting
jobseekers from New York, Chicago and
Boston and adding to the oversupply of
creative talent here, LinkedIn found. People
leaving the Los Angeles area to look for work
elsewhere most often head for San Francisco,
Las Vegas or Seattle.
JP Morgan Chase sounded the alarm, too,
about a middle-skill talent gap in greater
Los Angeles. The financial service company
predicted the L.A. County economy will
grow by 12 percent in the next decade. That
expansion is expected to create one million
middle-skill jobs paying close to $30 per
hour. Healthcare is expected to be the top
job creator, along with global trade and
logistics being so close to the Port of Los
Angeles and LAX. •
By Rob McCarthy
There are more sound engineers than
studio jobs available in Los Angeles County’s
television and recording industries. The same
goes for fashion and photography, social media
marketing and computer-designed graphics.
What the region lacks are people to manage
information technology systems, healthcare
plans and sales territories.
LinkedIn, sometimes referred to as
“Facebook for business professionals,” alerted
job-seekers recently to several skills gaps in the
Los Angeles County workforce. Hollywood,
television and the music business have stolen
the spotlight from other less-glamorous
industries. Those include schools and hospitals,
recruiters and human resource departments,
and the large number of manufacturers spread
throughout the L.A and South Bay.
The people at LinkedIn say they want to
give individuals and working families a heads
up to plan career changes and relocations
for better opportunities. Meanwhile, a
group of jobs economists this week will
reveal a long-term forecast for hiring and
in-demand skills at “The Future of Work”
forum in downtown Los Angeles. Cal State
Dominguez Hills is a co-sponsor of the
event, in partnership with the Los Angeles
County Economic Development Corporation
and other business-minded organizations in
the L.A.-Orange County metropolitan area.
A highlight of Tuesday’s forum was the
report, which pairs data about college grads
with data about business needs. Businesses and
schools, including local community colleges
and four-year universities, have an opportunity
to get out ahead of a skills gap that would
make the region less competitive in coming
years, the event organizers said ahead of
its release. The findings by the L.A.-based
Center for a Competitive Workforce may
“expose opportunities to teach new skills
and facilitate more partnerships between
business and colleges.”
Assemblywoman Autumn Burke,
D-Inglewood, was among local leaders who
spoke and gave workforce development
insights at Tuesday’s forum. The futureof
work report was released as part of the
forum. Jobs economists gave their predictions
on what job skills will be most in demand.
Whether young adults will have the talents
and skills when they graduate is a question
that El Camino College administrators will
want to consider.
The LinkedIn snapshot of what is happening
currently in the job market could hold clues
as to what the labor economists will say. The
most recent (August) skills snapshot from
LinkedIn noted the Los Angeles’ workforce
looks lopsided with creative and technical
talents sought by the entertainment and media
arts businesses. LinkedIn did not disclose
how many of its members live and work in
the region, or why it concluded that L.A.
has a glut of creative talent--both in front
of the cameras and behind the scenes. It
found an abundance of members listed on
their profiles:
- TV and video production; theater
and drama, music production and radio
broadcasting.
- Fashion clothing, social media marketing,
graphics computer design, and photography.
- The lone non-entertainment field listed
was real estate and home buying, which
include flipping houses.
The social media site is used by 138 million
people and 20,000 companies that recruit
and hire LinkedIn members. “This gives us
unique and valuable insights into the U.S.
workplace trend,” according to LinkedIn that
analyzes 20 metro markets each month to
identify skills gaps, migration of workers to
different cities, and who’s hiring. The company
says its reports offer snapshots that can be
valuable when considering a career move.
“Whether you’re employed and wondering if
hiring is improving in your industry, exploring
new skills to learn to make yourself more
attractive to employers, or considering a move
and curious which cities your skills most,”
according to LinkedIn.
Based on LinkedIn member profiles and
job listings on the site, skills missing in the
local workforce are:
- IT Infrastructure and management, and
Microsoft Windows systems.
- Healthcare management and nursing.
- Education and teaching.
- Human resources and HR benefits and
compensation.
The study predicts skills El Camino graduates will need to enter the local workforce.
City Council from front page
elementary schools were on hand to promote the
Walk to School program, an outreach effort to
promote pedestrian and driver safety awareness.
Jadon Brown, a fifth grade student at Oak
Street Elementary, represented the group and
invited the Council and all Inglewood residents
to come out and walk with the students on
October 4, from 7-8:30 a.m. Brown said 11
local schools are participating this year.
Inglewood Unified School District’s newly
appointed state administrator Thelma Melendez
de Santa Ana accompanied the students. “I’m
very proud to be a part of the city and the
school district,” said Melendez. “I look forward
to participating with all of you.”
Mayor Butts requested the meeting be
adjourned in honor of Marsha Peters, a resident
who passed recently.
The Inglewood City Council meets every
Tuesday, unless otherwise noted, at 2 p.m.
in the Council chambers on the ninth floor,
Inglewood City Hall. •
“We increased by 245 units in the past four
years,” he said.
Mayor Butts praised the community group.
“I have great respect for people who organize
and make their feelings known,” he said. He
cautioned the group on their findings. “We have
more affordable housing per capita than any
city in the South Bay,” said Butts. The Mayor
added that a possible unacknowledged factor
impacting housing costs is mass transit. “The
greatest correlation to rents and property values
rising is access to mass transit,” he said. “Rents
and property have been going up since 2012.
Why? The Greenline is coming through. Butts
was referring to the MTA project cutting across
Los Angeles and surrounding communities.
The project will connect existing train lines
to LAX via Inglewood and Lawndale.
Also in public comments, Lamont Rasheed
thanked Council members for attending a local
block club party.
A group of students from Inglewood