If you're used to working in a factory that produces counterweights, you might be understandably apprehensive about moving to Modesto, a city with a reputation for being an agricultural town. However, don't abandon all hope before you even learn about the city's job prospects. In fact, an individual looking to buy Modesto real estate could potentially find employment in one of the manufacturing jobs available in the city. There are also other careers, some of which you could excel at if you could manage to adapt your manufacturing-related skills. Here is a quick overview of such manufacturing-related opportunities in Modesto, California.
Manufacturing
Despite the prominence of agriculture in Modesto, or perhaps because of it, the city has developed a fledgling manufacturing industry centered upon providing products needed for the storage and transport of agricultural products. The Earnest and Julio Gallo Winery runs the Gallo Glass Company, which is the world's largest producer of wine bottles. Other factories in the city produce such products as heat shrink sleeves for packaging produce, steel products, and canned food. The Ceres Company also maintains several factories dedicated to the manufacturing of breakfast cereals. Any of these establishments could provide employment opportunities for tradesmen new to town.
Construction
Manufacturing involves the creation of a product from raw goods, especially in a factory. This is not far off from how buildings and public works projects are made by construction workers. Though it takes specialized training to become a carpenter, electrician, or plumber, just like it does to create electronic components out of scrap gold rings, there's always call for general laborers to help out with carrying, driving, and the use of machine tools. 12% of men in Modesto work in the construction industry, which is more than the California average. The percentage of women is much lower because most women prefer administrative jobs to technical careers.
Repairs and Transportation
The other most common employment sectors for men can also offer opportunities to recently relocated people with manufacturing experience. 6% of men in Modesto work as drivers, which includes both drivers for the local car dealer supply outfits' shuttle services and truck drivers who transport food from the canneries to Fresno and Sacramento. 6% of men also work in supervisory positions overseeing production operations. Other common jobs for men in Modesto include working as maintenance men in buildings, as janitors, and as schedulers or dispatchers for trucking companies. Once again, women's presence in these industries is very small.
Agriculture
Before you scoff and say that pulling plants out of the ground has nothing in common with running the heavy duty machinery that produces the clocks by which time and frequency standards are set, have a look at modern agriculture. Gone are the horses and oxen and hand shovels. In their places are huge combines, tractors, seeding machines, and sorters whose operation parameters are often similar to the factory equipment you are already familiar with. Therefore, in the absence of anything else, you might look into a place as a farm laborer.
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