SOUTHLAND CALIFORNIA SUMMARIZED HISTORY, FACTS,  AND DEMOGRAPHICS 

Economic Activities

Manufacturing

California leads all states in income generated by industrial activity and in industrial employment. In 1996 California's manufacturing sector contributed ten percent of the nation's manufacturing total, and some 2.0 million people were engaged in manufacturing in the state.

California's leading industry, in terms of the value added by manufacturing, is electronic and electrical equipment manufacturing. Value added by manufacturing is the difference between the price of raw materials used in a product and the price it commands as a finished item. The largest employers were firms making semiconductors, radios and televisions, printed circuit boards, and telephones, although the diverse industrial sector contained manufactures ranging from the makers of electron tubes to household lighting fixtures.

   

Ranking high in California's economy is the manufacture of industrial machinery, principally computers and related equipment but including the making of pumps, engines, turbines, and machines for the service industry. Many computer companies are located in what is known as Silicon Valley, in the San Jose-Palo Alto area. Food processing, which includes the drying, freezing, and packaging of fruit, vegetables, fish, and livestock products, is another of the state's biggest industries. Included in this sector is the California wine industry, which accounts for four-fifths of the nation's annual wine production. The manufacture of instruments contributes significantly to California's industrial economy, led by firms making such things as surgical and medical instruments, appliances, and supplies, while also including those making electric meters, analytical tools used in research and by other industries, and photographic equipment.

The manufacture of transportation equipment has long been important to California's economy. By far the largest employers in the sector are aeronautics firms, making civilian and military aircraft, guided missiles, and vehicles used in space exploration. Other activities include the building and repairing of ships and the manufacture and assembly of automobiles.

Manufacturing is concentrated in southern California and around San Francisco Bay. The aircraft industry is centered in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas and is based in large part on federal military expenditures. Automobile assembly plants are located near Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, and in Fremont. There are shipbuilding yards at San Diego. In Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Bakersfield, and other Central Valley cities, foodstuffs are manufactured. In the San Francisco area, manufacturing is highly diversified and includes food processing, automobile assembly, shipbuilding, chemical production, printing and publishing, and the manufacture of machinery. The computer and electronics industry is centered in Silicon Valley, which is lesser known as, but officially, the Santa Clara Valley.