Orange County’s unemployment rate is expected to be 4.3% next year, the same as the level in September, California State University, Fullerton economists Anil Puri and Mira Farka said in their 2027 Economic Forecast today.
The economists said that workers with bachelor’s and graduate degrees are most exposed to the disruptions caused by AI.
“For a county with Orange County’s highly educated workforce, that is a sobering finding,” according to the report.
Inflation as measured by the consumer price index is expected to slow to 2.8% next year from this year’s anticipated 3.5% rise,
The forecast also notes that Orange County “is at the heart of the revival” in Southern California’s aerospace and defense industry, led in large part by Anduril Industries of Costa Mesa.
Orange County has been leading the rest of Southern California in home price increases
“Since 2023, median single-family prices have risen at an average annual rate of 4.6% in Orange County, against just 1.5% in Los Angeles County, 1.1% in Riverside County, 1.6% in San Bernardino County and 1.9% statewide.” according to the report’s authors from the Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting.
