Employment
Modesto's industries are primarily comprised of food processing and related industries. The top three industry sectors employing the most workers are Trade/Transportation/ Utilities, Government, and Manufacturing which are predicted to grow through 2008.
E & J Gallo Winery, Del Monte Foods, Foster Farms, Frito Lay, Blue Diamond Growers, Hershey and Con-Agra are nationally recognized food companies with large operations in the area. Recently, the service industry has also begun emerging as a strong sector with companies such as Gift Specialists, Inc. The service sectors in the region are expected to continuing growing on average over 2.0 percent.
Modesto and the surrounding area have deep agricultural roots. Farmers in Stanislaus County grow over 250 commodities and produce value added products, which are shipped worldwide. Agriculture represents over $1.3 billion gross dollars and one-third of the county's jobs. Stanislaus County is the number seven agricultural County in the state of California.