Editor’s Note: Darryl Button is president & CEO of Pacific Life, Orange County’s second biggest private company with $18.8 billion in revenue in 2025. Mark Percy is CEO & president of CEO Leadership Alliance Orange County (CLAOC), a coalition of 55 chief executives of major OC employers.
Imagine. . . every Orange County business has access to a local, evergreen talent pool built through a coordinated, demand-driven talent pipeline. Students and workers have opportunities for career awareness, education and work-based learning aligned with what the regional workforce needs.
Integrated regional talent systems ensure people are prepared for high-demand jobs and employers rapidly find the talent they need.
We believe this vision is both possible and necessary.
But first we must correct an alarming mismatch. Many OC graduates can’t find good jobs, and our employers struggle to find qualified local candidates.
Underemployment for recent college grads aged 22 to 27 reached 42.5% in early 2026, one of the highest levels since 2020, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The problem is even worse for first-generation grads.
Regional data indicates that Orange County employers have 20,000 unfilled higher-wage jobs annually, despite 25,000 Orange County business and STEM graduates entering the workforce from local colleges and universities each year.
AI adds complexity. The World Economic Forum in March reported that U.S. entry-level job postings dropped by 35% in 18 months, largely due to AI. Just two months later, Strada Education Foundation reported that nearly three times as many senior talent leaders expect AI to increase 2026 entry-level hiring as expect it to decrease.
CEO Leadership Alliance Orange County’s (CLAOC) recent survey of 185 local undergraduate students confirmed they want to start their careers here. To retain them, we need paths to well-paid jobs to offset OC’s high cost of living, a real barrier for many.
United Way’s 2025 Real Cost Measure Study found that 41% of Orange County’s households spend more than 30% of their income on housing.
Systems Change Requires a Coalition
This is a complex community challenge that impacts every sector. Employers, educational institutions and community leaders trying to correct this mismatch must work together in new ways to drive meaningful, system-level change. Only then will we provide paths to good careers for our young people and position Orange County as a premier hub for innovation.
At Pacific Life, we invest in internships for students, partner with local universities on paths to high-demand roles and deliver on-the-job development of our early-career employees to help close this gap.
We also know that one company alone cannot solve this challenge. Business leaders with visibility into emerging talent demands are best positioned to drive this effort. Through our work together, the top employers who form CLAOC have identified how we can close the OC talent gap.
The Three Roadblocks
Three major breakdowns blocking local talent from good jobs:
- Too few grads have the work experience they need to secure in-demand jobs. One of the barriers young adults face is the “experience paradox.” Many entry-level positions demand some professional experience. Among the students CLAOC surveyed, 61% say most entry-level postings require more experience than they have. Plus, the most in-demand skills and roles can change dramatically in the time it takes to earn a degree.
- Employers and local talent don’t match efficiently. Students say job posts on job search platforms are repetitive, outdated or don’t give them visibility into OC employers. Students are unfamiliar with OC employers or lack the networks to connect with them.
On the employer side, HR teams are flooded with applicants. In 2025, The New York Times reported an average of 11,000 applications submitted per minute on the LinkedIn platform, a 45% increase from 2024. It’s harder than ever to find top local candidates. - There are not enough targeted measures to upskill and retain our regional workforce to meet fast-changing demands. CLAOC’s 2026 AI Talent Brief reveals how top OC talent leaders see AI’s influence on the highest-priority skills for technical and non-technical workers. Dynamic opportunities for upskilling will help retain talent at all levels.
Industry Led, Sector Focused
CLAOC has been working with trusted partners in OC for six years, building transformational and repeatable talent initiatives.
More than 2,000 students have connected with 37 leading Orange County employers through CLAOC career experiences, internships and mentoring.
Popularity has grown. We received 1,550 applications for 215 slots in 2026. We have watched the early participants in CLAOC’s programs accelerate their career journeys from summer career exploration to formal internships to professional jobs with local employers.
Our industry-led model starts with CEOs, engages senior leaders and forms strategic alliances with key education partners to prepare local talent for high-need roles and upskill incumbent workers.
For instance, CLAOC’s Healthcare Coalition–including City of Hope Orange County, Kaiser Permanente Orange County, Hoag Hospital, Rady Children’s Health, CalOptima Health and UCI Health—is addressing critical talent shortages across radiologic and surgical technologists, RNs, physicians and behavioral health specialists.
The resulting pipeline will remove barriers and connect more students to jobs because it’s designed by the healthcare providers.
CLAOC’s programs encourage early-career talent to stay and grow their careers here in OC and offer skill development so our workforce stays competitive. OC Fellows, a two-year professional development program for top early-career talent, has maintained a 90%-plus retention rate for more than 200 professionals across high-growth industries.
We have also provided AI upskilling in sectors from aerospace to water management.
Beyond CLAOC Members
Building from proven models, we are set to scale beyond CLAOC members.
The vision of retaining our young talent by offering greater economic mobility and a clear pathway to a well-paying career in OC is achievable. Starting with secondary students, we can provide career insights and educational requirements, offer work-based learning with OC employers and provide job matching and placement.
By integrating AI-driven mentoring and job placement software platforms with critical human guidance, we can scale to reach far more students and employers.
CLAOC is well positioned to serve as a talent pipeline manager for select innovation sectors, following the successful Healthcare Coalition model. CLAOC already has chief executives in aerospace and defense, medtech, and financial services among its membership. We invite other leaders to join us.
It’s time to invest in our collective future. Let’s expand access, increase economic mobility and advance economic growth–creating a thriving OC for all.
The post OC is Expanding Paths to Good Jobs in High-Demand Sectors appeared first on Orange County Business Journal.