World War II created many big businesses and lead to new technology in the aerospace industry. During this time, the aerospace industry cranked out numerous amounts of bombers and other military aircraft. Technology also developed as new innovations such as unmanned missiles came into use. Later, scientists and engineers developed the unmanned aircraft and guided missiles.
All of this was centered in Orange County. Low business taxes, a large labor pool, and Southern California's mild weather, which was ideal for flight-testing, attracted industry to the region. Big companies such as Douglas Aircraft, Lockheed, and North American Aviation established operations around LA.
The cheap price of land was a big incentive for the businesses to move from elsewhere. For example, in 1957, a company called Hughes Aircraft Co. paid only $6 million for 426 acres of land in Fullerton.
The aerospace industry brought tens of thousands of jobs and allowed the economy to grow rapidly. In 1960, there were about 22,000 aerospace workers in Orange County. By 1970, there were 62,000 working there. This meant that employment almost tripled in 10 years. It supplied about 8.1% of all non-agricultural jobs in the county. Clearly, the aerospace industry was a factor that lead California to be the California we know today.
Source:
http://articles.latimes.com/1989-06-11/business/fi-3410_1_aerospace-industry-douglas-aircraft-huntington-beach
Cool blog post! It was interesting to hear the reasons why the aerospace industry was attracted to California, and I thought it was particularly interesting to learn that the nice weather was a major reason for the industries' growth. Today, Orange County continues to be the home for major companies including five Fortune 500 companies. Also, if you search for Aerospace jobs in Orange County, 706 job positions are available meaning that this is still alive and well even after all these years.
ReplyDeleteFor prospective aerospace industry employees in Orange County:
https://www.indeed.com/q-Aerospace-l-Orange-County,-CA-jobs.html
Interesting post on California during World War II! It's really interesting seeing how California became such dominant economic power in America. It's interesting to see how, even this far into the future, there is a pull to the West Coast–a sort of continuation of Manifest Destiny. It would be intriguing to see how the economic industries of California back then compare to that of today. Do you think California's industries shifted with the new innovations and new fields created as time went on? For more information on California's major industries today, go to: http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/industries-in-california-strongest/2015/03/08/id/626901/
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how we often don't necessarily think of California as being famous for its aerospace industry (as by now high-tech, films, and agriculture have taken over the economic public image of the state). I wonder how big of an impact the aerospace industry had on foreign immigrants, relative to the agricultural sector (which attracted many itinerant farmers from Central America) and the high-tech sector (which has attracted and is still attracting many workers from all over the globe). I wonder what the political impact of this migration was, given the transition of California from voting primarily Republican to Democratic later.
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