The largest foreign-owned companies in Orange County put a brake on hiring in 2011.
The 41 companies on this week’s Business Journal list combined to barely keep even with their local jobs count from a year earlier, adding 63 positions for a total of 27,836 workers.
The flat line lagged a gain in employment among all companies here over the same period.
Orange County gained 24,600 jobs last year, a 1.8% increase to 1.39 million, according to the state’s Employment Development Department.
The foreign-owned companies also lagged their own recent pace. The 40 largest listed a year earlier combined for a 2% increase in jobs in 2010, primarily led by Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc.’s addition of 450 jobs.
The sunglasses and apparel maker kept the No. 1 spot on this week’s list. It added 131 workers here in 2011 for a total of 2,241 employees.
Oakley is part of Italy-based Luxottica Group SPA. Luxottica’s other brands are Chanel, Prada, Ray-Ban, Dolce & Gabbana and Tiffany.
Oakley and a few other companies on the upper half of the list saw gains of more than 100 workers.
Those additions were offset by several companies that cut jobs by the hundreds.
Twelve companies on the list showed an increase in employee count. Nine companies shrank their work force, and six saw their numbers stay flat. Figures for 14 companies are Business Journal estimates.
The biggest gainer was Lake Forest-based Panasonic Avionics Corp., part of Panasonic Corp. in Japan. It counts 1,308 employees here, up 178, or 16%, from a year earlier. It ranked No. 7, up two spots from a year ago.
“Business is growing with existing customers and new customers,” spokesperson Brian Bardwell said.
Panasonic benefited from a general strong run for avionics, which has been boosted by big orders for new aircraft from Chicago-based Boeing Co. and Airbus in Europe.
Panasonic’s operations in Lake Forest recently got a $1 billion contract to provide in-flight entertainment systems for Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, although the full effects of that business have yet to be felt here. Instead, some of the company’s gain in employment over the past year has come from a decision to switch from an outside contractor for the production of antennae for in-flight connectivity service and bring the work in-house to Lake Forest, according to Bardwell.
No. 5 Costa Mesa-based Experian PLC was another big gainer.
The information services system, which has its on-the-books corporate headquarters in Ireland, saw a 7% increase in employment last year, for a total of 1,380 workers here.
Continued growth in the North America division has led to staffing needs in Orange County, according to Experian’s spokesperson, Dayna parker.
Teva Cuts
The largest job cut came from Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., an Israel-based generic drug maker. Teva has a plant in Irvine.
The drug maker laid off more than 270 workers during the past year and now counts 494 local employees. The 36% drop pushed the company down eight spots on the list to No. 20.
Teva began rounds of layoffs after it stopped making its sedative propofol in May 2010.
No. 4 Union Bank shed 200 jobs last year.
It is part of Tokyo-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. The company now has 1,390 employees here. Last year’s 13% decline came after Union Bank expanded its work force by about 16% in 2010.
No. 30 U.K.-based Meggitt PLC’s local unit cut 184 workers last year for a total of 300 workers here, down 38%.
Japanese companies made up about a third of the list. Seven companies were from the United Kingdom, six from France, three from Germany and two from Switzerland.
Two entries were newcomers to the list.
Ireland-based endovascular device maker Ev3 Inc. made the list at No. 23 with an estimated 415 workers in Irvine.
Volcom
Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc., which was sold in 2010 to luxury brand holding company PPR SA of Paris, made the list at No. 25. The maker of clothes, shoes and accessories, with a running theme around surfing and skateboarding, added 23 workers last year for a total of 382 employees.
A few companies dropped off the list this year.
Last year’s No. 27—Foothill Ranch-based Ossur Americas, a prosthetic device maker that’s a part of Ossur HF in Iceland—shed more than half its OC employees, going from 362 to 175 last year. Part of the cut was in connection with a relocation of Ossur’s production staff last year.
Eads North America Test and Services in Irvine—part of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. N.V. in the Netherlands, the parent of Airbus—fell off the list after decreasing its employee count to 140.
Download the 2012 OC’s LARGEST FOREIGN-OWNED COMPANIES list (pdf)
