While employment in government historically formed the core of its economy, the City of Rosefield and the greater metropolitan area have shown steady growth in private sector employment in recent years. Employment increases have been especially strong in retail trade; distribution; business services; and finance, insurance, and real estate throughout urban and suburban Rosefield County. Manufacturing growth, particularly for electronics firms, has been strong in the suburban areas of the metropolitan area since the mid-1980s.
Currently, federal, regional, state, county, and local government combined to make government the largest employer in the four-county area (approximately 30% of the labor force). Although Rosefield County had a low unemployment rate in the 1980s, the rate has increased as a result of the recession and government cuts such as military closures. Certainly this sector remains a major part of the economic base, but as it continues to reduce its regional workforce, Rosefield's other sectors have gained a greater share of the labor force.
While growth in services slowed under recessionary conditions in 1991, it has increased its labor share in the Rosefield area eight percent in the past year. Continuing gains in service industries have resulted in this sector becoming the area's second largest sector (24.2% of the 1991 labor force). According to the 1992 report from the city's Employment Development Department, this sector is expected to produce one of every three new jobs through 1993.
Retail trade in Rosefield's metropolitan area is still one of the fastest growing segments of the economy, although it also has experienced some decline as a result of the recession. This sector of the economy provided nearly twenty percent of the jobs in 1991. In contrast, manufacturing accounted for only 6.5% of the labor force in the Rosefield metropolitan area, compared with 7.2% in 1991. The growth of this sector is very erratic because of alternate periods of growth and consolidation in electronics and aerospace.
During the 1960s the area's aerospace industry employed large numbers of manufacturing personnel from the city and outlying areas. Subsequent declines in that industry created massive job losses from which the area's manufacturing sector has not yet recovered. The city has also seen a decline in food processing, which also once played a large role in the area's manufacturing base. However, slower employment growth in food processing and other nondurable goods over recent years has been offset by faster growth in durable goods. This category is considered to be important to the area because it lends diversification to the economy in the area of technology-based manufacture, including electrical equipment, measurement and control instruments, and transportation equipment.
The Rosefield area established a regional community college district in 1965, bringing together under one governing board three community colleges. The Rosefield area also has one major state university.