Employment in the health care sector has been an anomaly in recent years. While total employment in Los Angeles County has slipped in key industries such as aerospace and manufacturing, local health care employment has continued to expand, keeping employment firms busy recruiting to fill those job openings. Many labor experts predict that, not only will this trend remain steady, but yet another employment boom in the health care industry may likely occur in future months and years.

Employment in health care in Los Angeles County has expanded consistently since 1972. In that year, total L.A. County employment in the health care sector numbered 143,400. Today, that figure stands at 263,100, according to a study conducted by the California Employment Development Department.

And by most accounts, that figure is expected to increase despite the continuing recession in Los Angeles, in addition to the pending health care reforms on the horizon.

According to Thaine H. Allison Jr., an adjunct professor of health economics at USC, employment in health care is a population-driven figure. Los Angeles County continues to increase in population, so one can expect to see further increases in health care employment. Additionally, he asserted that the future of employment in health care will not be negatively burdened by possible reforms on the horizon.

“In a study that I worked on for the (Los Angeles) County Board of Supervisors, we concluded that there are approximately 3 million residents of Los Angeles County that are without health insurance. If those people are given insurance by the reforms, you should see further increases in employment in health care to cover these people,” commented Allison. Other forces also seem to be at work that would contribute to a robust employment outlook for this sector.

A number of local search firms have discovered that servicing the health care sector is saving their businesses, as other industries remain soft and employment in many sectors continues to decline. Many executive recruiters pointed to the growing demand for high-level health care executives as evidence of this trend.

Additionally, many executive recruiters said they see more employment in health care in the future due to the continuing growth of medical technology companies.

In general, 1991 and 1992 were terrible years for local executive search firms. Few saw any increase in earnings because of the stagnant economy in Southern California.