1. The economic drivers of Orange County
Ed Coulson
Center for Real Estate and Department of Economics and Public Policy
Paul Merage School of Business
UC Irvine

2. What drives Orange County? Popular conceptions:

3. What drives Orange County? Popular conceptions:

4. What drives Orange County? Popular conceptions:

5. They’re half right. Here are the largest employers in the OC:
1. Walt Disney Co.: 29,000*
2. University of California, Irvine: 23,605
3. St. Joseph Health: 11,925
4. Allied Universal: 8,229
5. Kaiser Permanente: 7,694
6. The Boeing Company: 6,103*
7. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.: 6,000
8. California State University, Fullerton: 5,781
9. Bank of America Corp.: 5,500
10. Target Corp.: 5,400
11. Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian:  5,240
12. Memorial Care Health System: 5,200
13. Wells Fargo & Co.: 5,190
14. Tenet Healthcare Corp.: 4,346
15. The Irvine Company: 4,200
16. Home Depot Inc.: 4,084
17. Albertsons: 4,017
18. Cedar Fair LP: 4,000*
19. UnitedHealth Group Inc.: 3,900
20. Edwards Life Sciences: 3,823*

6. Other headquarters

7. Which are the drivers, and which are the passengers?
A simple point: The largest employers are not always the driver.
Drivers are exporters
The multiplier model suggests that a small amount of export gets leveraged to large amount of local-serving establishments
I suggest that the starred firms (and others) are such exporters

8. How do the drivers come to be in OC?
Historical background:
OC was suburbia personified
Bedroom communities
Construction and homebuilding were a major driver… still are
But also part of the suburbanization of employment centers, especially for land-intensive facilities
Aircraft
Amusement Parks
Two other forces:
The development of Interstate Highways and large trucks reduced need for access to central transport hub, so other kinds of goods-producing industries could locate in freeway-rich OC.
And of course…

9. the primary economic driver of OC
“The company [Pacific Life] moved its headquarters to their current Newport Beach, California location in 1972 when management decided that Newport Beach would provide a higher standard of living for their families.”

10. And so other agglomerative forces can take hold, particularly in information-intensive industries (the location preferences of skilled workers):
Instruments
Electronics
Biosciences
Irvine/Costa Mesa was an original Edge City, but it’s edginess is morphing into a separate agglomerative center.

11. R and D lab hotspot right here (Buzard et al, 2017)

12. Average commuting times hint that those who live in OC work in OC

13. Some numbers

14. % of total OC employment
Employment: OC Amusement, Gambling, Recreation
Location Quotient
= (% in OC)/(% in US)

15. Employment: OC Construction
% of total OC employment
Location Quotient
= (% in OC)/(% in US)

16. Employment: OC Transportation Equipment
% of total OC employment
Location Quotient
= (% in OC)/(% in US)