Despite being battered by COVID-19, a slimmer Walt Disney Co. held onto its spot as the largest employer in Orange County by headcount, while the next two largest employers—University of California-Irvine and the local county administration—managed to increase their staffs.
The year 2020 has been one wild ride for employers across the world, and OC is no exception. The local unadjusted jobless rate shot up to a once unthinkable 13.8% in April but fell to 7.5% in October. A year ago, the October unemployment rate was 2.6%.
Many top employers trimmed their workforces, according to this week’s Business Journal list of the top local employers. Overall, the 45 companies on the list, each with more than 1,800 local workers, reduced combined total staff numbers by nearly 3,500 to 236,730 as of last month, despite earlier fears the cuts would be much deeper.
Furloughed but not laid off employees, including thousands of workers at the Disneyland Resort, remain included in this week’s ranking.
Disney, based in Burbank, fell to an estimated 28,000 employees in OC from 32,000 the year before.
UCI added almost 800 employees to 25,512, while the County of Orange beefed up its ranks by almost 1,200 to 18,543 to keep their hold on the second and third slots respectively.
The Providence health care organization in OC dipped slightly to 12,866 workers compared to the estimate for last year, but kept its No. 4 slot on this year’s list.
Food giant Albertsons Southern California Division, based in Fullerton, added more than 600 workers to reach a headcount of 8,159, moving up a slot to No. 5.
Economic Impact
The pandemic has again focused attention on Disney as Orange County’s largest employer, and the county’s center of tourism.
Disney in late September said it planned to lay off 28,000 workers companywide, including more than 3,000 employees at Anaheim’s currently closed Disneyland Resort, with the reopening date uncertain.
The closure of the resort, in terms of job cuts, goes well beyond the company’s employment figures, economists note.
“If Disneyland were to close for a whole year, Orange County would lose 33,200 jobs and Southern California 46,100 jobs with an output loss of $3.4 billion for Orange County and a huge $5 billion loss for Southern California,” California State University-Fullerton lead economist Anil Puri said on Oct. 22.
Boeing, Edwards
Aerospace giant Boeing, with local operations in Seal Beach and Huntington Beach, was also hard-hit by the pandemic, as well as the grounding of its 737 MAX (see story, page 3). It fell six places to No. 13 as its estimated headcount now is 5,000 employees.
Edwards Lifesciences Corp., the county’s largest publicly traded company (NYSE: EW), moved up a notch to No. 12 with 5,319 employees. A large expansion of its local campus continues, which will likely lead to hundreds of more jobs over the coming years.
Allied Universal, the largest private security firm in North America, increased its local headcount by about 14% to 4,152 as the Santa Ana company’s acquisition spree continues. It moved up six notches and is the 17th-largest OC employer. Allied Universal last week said it bought Platt Security Inc., a Long Beach-based firm, in its latest addition.
Talk continues over a multi-billion acquisition of a fellow security firm in the U.K., which would make Allied one of the world’s largest employers.
Blizzard Entertainment Inc., the maker of video games including ‘World of Warcraft’ and the largest software maker in Orange County, checked in at No. 28 as its estimated local employee number climbed by 100 to 2,900.
Newport Beach-based Irvine Company, OC’s largest real estate owner, fell 18 places to 33 with 2,439 employees as it shuttered a pair of its hotel properties during the pandemic.
