Real O.C. Boom Was in the ‘60s : Labor: The number of low- and high-wage jobs in the service industry rose from 1980 to 1990, as manufacturing decreased in importance.

It probably comes as no surprise that the service industry surpassed manufacturing as the main source of new jobs in Orange County during the 1980s, according to census figures released today.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean the 1980s saw a transformation of Orange County’s blue-collar work force into BMW-driving white-collar workers.

As manufacturing declined in importance, the service sector created both high-wage and low-wage jobs, increasing social stratification and threatening the county’s job diversity, economists said.

“We’re growing in high-status and low-status service jobs, with a shrinking base of the manufacturing jobs,” said Mark Baldassare, professor of urban and regional studies at UC Irvine. “The numbers raise questions, in the wake of the Los Angeles riots, about the prospects of growing inequality.”

Orange County saw an increase in high-salary categories such as executives and professionals, which accounted for 31.4% of county jobs in 1990, up from 28.9% in 1980.

But lower-wage technician and sales jobs accounted for 18.4% of the jobs in 1990, compared to 17% a decade earlier. Combined with a decline in manufacturing, which has driven improvements in the standard of living since World World II, the rise in low-wage jobs hurt the county’s economy.

Still, Orange County residents were better off than the rest of the state. Overall, per capita income--adjusted for inflation--grew 24% during the decade in Orange County, contrasted with 18% growth statewide. The county’s poverty rate grew to 8.5% in 1990 from 7% in 1980, whereas the state poverty level rose to 12.5% from 11%.

Defense cuts and the rising costs of doing business in Orange County took a toll on manufacturing. Durable and non-durable goods manufacturing accounted for a combined 21.4% of Orange County jobs in 1990, slipping dramatically from 25.9% in 1980.

Meanwhile, Orange County professional services grew to 6.7% of jobs in 1990, up from 4.4% in 1980. Finance, insurance and real estate services grew to 9.1% of Orange County jobs, compared to 7.9% in 1980. And entertainment and personal services grew to 5.4% of industry jobs, compared to 4.3% in 1980.

That structural economic change is also reflected in median family income, which rose from an inflation-adjusted $43,438 in 1980 to $51,167 in Orange County in 1990. Statewide, the median family income in 1990 was $40,559.

Some of that gain came from the creation of high-salary jobs, but median family income also got a boost because of the growth in the number of working women, said Esmael Adibi, an economist at Chapman University in Orange.

As reflected in popular phrases such as “working moms” and “career women” in the 1980s, the number of women in Orange County’s labor force rose 37.2% to 591,393 in 1990 from 430,966 in 1980. The county labor force itself grew 33% to 1.3 million during the decade.

The percentage of women in the Orange County labor force grew to 62.8% in 1990, compared to 56.8% in 1980. Statewide, the percentage of women in the labor force was 57.7% in 1990, up from 52.6% a decade earlier.

Spurred by social changes in sex roles and a need for dual incomes to pay high housing costs, more women with children went to work in Orange County relative to the rest of the state, Adibi said.

About 59.8% of Orange County women with children under 6 years old worked in 1990, contrasted with 47% in 1980. The comparable state figures are 55.6% in 1990 and 46% in 1980.

Judy Rosener, a professor of management at UC Irvine, said that another reason for the rise in working women in Orange County is that the entrepreneurial fever here is also strong among women.

Along with the service sector, the construction industry fared well during the decade of shopping mall and office tower development in Orange County. Construction jobs increased 41.8% to 88,404, accounting for 6.8% of county jobs in 1990.

Despite increasing pleas by government for energy conversation and pollution control, Orange County residents’ driving habits changed little during the decade. About 76% of county residents drove to work alone rather than riding in car pools or taking public transportation in 1990, virtually unchanged from 1980.