Riverside County Nationally Recognized for Attracting, Retaining Skilled Workers

From The County of Riverside: The County of Riverside is a national leader in the intense war for workers, earning 12thplace among large counties nationwide for its success at attracting and retaining workers, according to the “Talent Attraction Scorecard” released this month.

No other Southern California county came close to that rank, with Los Angeles County placing at 593rdout of 595 large counties, Orange County at 314th, San Bernardino County at 143rd and San Diego County coming in at 74th place. The 2017 report was produced by EMSI, a 15-year-old Idaho-based company, in its effort to determine which counties are succeeding in the increasingly competitive battle for skilled workers.

“In the report, we make the case that talent attraction is more important – and tougher – than ever,” the researchers wrote. “Communities at the top of our scorecard have been leveraging … partnerships between local educational institutions, companies and community organizations to supply businesses with top talent.”

The County of Riverside Economic Development Agency – which includes Workforce Development, Economic Development, the Film Commission and the Office of Foreign Trade, among other units – lauded the report as a prime example that its multipronged strategy is working.

“The County of Riverside has an aggressive approach to creating a well-trained and robust workforce, and the results of this research validate our success,” said Rob Field, assistant county executive officer/EDA. “We’ve worked hard to grow our economy and make Riverside County the most business friendly, family oriented and healthy community in the state.”

Researchers studied net migration, overall job growth, skilled job growth, educational attainment, regional competitiveness and annual openings per capita in compiling the data. They studied both small and large counties, with counties that have 100,000 or more residents falling into the large-county category. Riverside County has an estimated 2.4 million residents.

From 2012-2016, Riverside County experienced 17.3 percent job growth and 18.2 percent skilled job growth. The net migration from 2014-2015 was 2,808.

The top two large counties were Maricopa County, which is home to Phoenix, Ariz., and Clark County, which is home to Las Vegas. Maricopa County experienced job growth of 10.3 percent, and Clark County experienced 13.5 percent job growth. Both counties exceeded Riverside County’s population gain and outpaced it in other areas.

The report can be found here: http://www.economicmodeling.com/2017/06/07/the-communities-winning-the-war-for-skilled-talent/

Image Courtesy of Riverside County