High Demand for Temporary Careers in the Inland Empire
Since the start of the e-commerce boom that sprouted when companies like Amazon began to promote their “Buy now with 1-Click” option, the Inland Empire has felt a dramatic spike in its warehouse job industry and could be a limiting factor to the youth in surrounding areas.
It is no coincidence there have been warehouses sprouting amidst the Inland Empire, and with each warehouse thriving here, the construction of many more quickly follows.
The reason for their success could well correspond to the high levels of documented and undocumented immigrants in the Inland Empire with no college degree, or even high school education, who are limited to these temporary low-paying jobs.
“The sector created 1 in 5 jobs in the Inland Empire last year,” says LA Times reporter Chris Kirkham.
The job openings available to IE residents, according to a 2013 UC Riverside survey of warehouse workers about 60% of those employed at Southern California facilities worked for temp agencies, often with no health benefits and no guarantees of hours.” A driving factor for the high number of temporary workers is the lack of consistent work in the logistics industry. For example, during Christmas and Valentines Day season, the demand for work is high so these companies pull on their temp agencies for employees, and drop them as soon as the work season is over.
Temp agencies are a quick way for people to work for a short period of time but often don’t offer benefits and are low-paying, mostly ranging from minimum wage to $14/hour for repetitive strenuous work. New job openings are normally great, presidential candidates pride themselves with the rising numbers , however, these temp agencies offer minimal job security and opportunity for growth.
More and more of the youth in the Inland Empire and its surrounding areas are becoming dependent on this form of work, and although there is no wrong way to live life , these easily accessible jobs are pulling younger residents to not pursue something outside of what they are accustomed to.
According to a US Census statistic, less than 20% of San Bernardino County residents have obtained a bachelor’s degree while the California average is at 32%. However, there are many different walks of life and the path to success is paved by the individual, it is possible these numbers can widen as more and more temporary job opportunities are presented towards the younger generations of Inland Empire residents.
The fact of the matter is these job openings are not chosen to be around a certain location at random, but are rather based off the demographics of an area. Therefore it has proven to do so good in the Inland Empire, we can expect to see the Rockefeller Group open their 1.45 million square foot, 36 foot high warehouse in the Inland Empire.