Survey: Retail Tops O.C. Job Growth

Engineers and software writers may be the hottest occupations around. But for sheer number of job openings, nothing beats retail.

In its new occupational projections for Orange County, the California Employment Development Department says retail salespeople will top all occupations in terms of job growth.

Between 1997 and 2004, the agency is projecting there will be 17,120 openings in Orange County for retail salespeople. That’s followed by cashiers at 13,370 openings, and general managers at 12,830 new jobs.

Openings for waiters and waitresses (11,780) and food preparers (8,310) round out the top five.

As for technical jobs, they’re far down the list. The state agency projects 4,190 openings for systems analysts between 1997 and 2004, and 3,150 new jobs for computer engineers.

Leslie Earnest covers retail for The Times. She can be reached at leslie.earnest@latimes.com