ECONOMIC Summary
TARGET INDUSTRIES
% Employed in Manufacturing
6.15%
Riverside County
Unemployment Rate
6.3%
Riverside County
% Employed in Retail Trade
13.6%
Riverside County
% Employed in Hospitality
12.67%
Riverside County
Building the Next Generation Economy
Riverside County is not just growing—it’s strategically positioning itself to lead in high-impact, innovation-driven sectors. The EDSP identifies eight priority industry clusters that offer the greatest potential for creation of quality/promising jobs, investment attraction, and long-term economic transformation.
The below table summarizes the eight priority industry clusters identified in the Riverside County Target Industry Analysis (Appendix G). Each cluster is aligned with strategic goals for job creation, innovation, and regional competitiveness.
Alignment of EDSP Target Industries with Regional/State Initiatives
Although derived through an independent research process, the EDSP’s target industry clusters significantly overlap with current State and regional investment priorities emerging from the California Jobs First (CJF) initiative. Relevant highlights of the CJF findings include:
- The clean economy agenda centers on regional capabilities in energy systems, emission controls / remediation (air and water), advanced materials, and mobility tech. It aims to boost climate resilience, increase energy independence, and accelerate the transition to a carbon-neutral future. It encompasses a wide range of industries, products, and services that extend into almost every aspect of daily life, including clean energy, power grid infrastructure, buildings, and transportation. This strategy for innovation and commercialization will be complemented by accelerating adoption of clean economy solutions in the region to adapt existing activities, strengthening local businesses and improving quality of life for Inland SoCal residents in the process.
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Advanced manufacturing potential in the region focuses more specifically on reinforcing and repositioning legacy strengths from aerospace and similar production, including complex commercial and industrial machinery, microelectronics, and components. In service-oriented sectors, both engineering and drafting are a natural part of this landscape and thus also included in the cluster.
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Cybersecurity is a refinement of opportunity within advanced business and professional services—protecting computer systems and networks against bad actors. An urgent demand from governments, businesses, and organizations of all sizes, the regional potential nearly a decade ago centered on a strength in simply training to fill unmet quality job openings. However, as capabilities and workforce production have expanded, along with acceptance of remote services, that possibility has extended to business and job creation. The technical and talent capacity in the region is converging with new relationships meeting needs of federal and defense agencies, emerging as a new base for economic growth in cybersecurity activities not already occupied by regions focused on basic research or a government operation. Inland SoCal has strong momentum in the cybersecurity sector. Over the past 15 years, the Center for Cyber and AI (CyAI) at California State University – San Bernardino (CSUSB) has positioned the region at the forefront of cybersecurity workforce development. During this time, the Center for CyAI received high-profile federal designations from the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Science Foundation for excellence in cybersecurity education. Through these designations, the Center shapes standards and best practices in cybersecurity training nationwide.
The Outsized Role of Logistics in Inland SoCal (From CJF Document)
The Inland SoCal logistics sector is a substantial economic force in the region and a key node in the national and global goods movement network. State policies have promoted growing supply chain and logistics as both an economic engine and enabler of other industries in California.
Massive industry investment over the years has resulted in an expansive system of warehouses, distribution centers, and intermodal logistics infrastructure. The immense scale of the sector in SoCal is reflected in its workforce: 215,000 residents work in logistics. The quality of jobs in this sector – particularly in warehousing that comprises the vast majority of employment – often receives criticism because only about one-third of logistics jobs meet the standard of quality/promising jobs.
Although past efforts to move the sector up the value chain by making the region a “center of excellence” for innovation and commercialization of sustainable logistics products and services have not come to fruition, some elements of those plans still hold relevance.
Digitization and decarbonization are of particular potential given looming state climate targets. Improved coordination and collaboration with the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the Los Angeles area more broadly, alongside similar investments, will streamline and accelerate logistics-related climate action throughout the Southern California megaregion.