TAO Group, a New York-based company that develops, owns and operates restaurants, casino-style lounges and a variety of other entertainment venues, plans to hire 600 employees in advance of its entry into the Los Angeles area, the company announced Monday.

TAO will open a hotel, two restaurants and a lounge

The company will be opening four venues, all in a one-block area at Selma Avenue and North Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood. They will include a 178-room hotel called Dream Hollywood, an Asian-inspired TAO Restaurant, another eatery called Beauty & Essex and a bar/lounge called Avenue.

“We’re doing recruiting as we speak and we should be opening everything within four to eight weeks,” said Rob Rawleigh, a managing partner with TAO. “L.A. has been a market that we’ve always had our eye on — we were just waiting for the right space and the right timing.”

The complex of buildings had been under construction for some time when its developers ID’d TAO as a good fit, Rawleigh said.

Openings for servers, chefs, bartenders and other positions

TAO will hold open interviews from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday at 6565 Sunset Blvd., Suite 140 in Los Angeles. The company has openings for a variety of positions, including cocktail servers, VIP hosts, managers, servers, chefs, pastry cooks, bartenders, hostesses and dishwashers.

Additional hiring opportunities will be held through December and early January. Those interested in must be 18 or older and they can apply at taogroupla.com.

TAO has operations in Las Vegas, New York and Sydney, Australia

TAO’s 14 New York partners are the creators of TAO Asian Bistro, Nightclub & Beach and LAVO Italian Restaurant & Nightclub in addition to numerous other venues. TAO Group has operations in Las Vegas, New York City and Sydney, Australia.

The company’s Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas is one example. Marquee is a 60,000-square-foot venue with seven different bars and three rooms — the main room, the Boom Box, and The Library — each with a distinct musical experience.

The LAVO Casino & Sports Lounge, another venue Las Vegas venue, offers a modern gaming experience that combines blackjack tables with Vegas-style VIP service and Italian cuisine.

Service sector jobs tend to be low paying

But most of the 600 new jobs will likely not be high-paying positions.

Recent figures from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. reveal that more than a third of Los Angeles County’s projected openings over the next five years will require workers without a high school diploma and no work experience. Another 30 percent will go to people with a high school diploma or the equivalent with no work experience.

The LAEDC notes that people involved in food preparation and serving typically earn wages that fall well below L.A. County’s median annual income of $39,250.

“We see growth, but a lot of it just happens to be in industries that are paying lower wages,” LAEDC Senior Vice President Christine Cooper said. “Most of these are jobs that serve the local population like restaurant jobs and retail jobs.”

Alec Levenson, a senior research scientist at the Center for Effective Organizations at USC’s Marshall School of Business, said that trend is nothing new.

“That’s been the case for a long time, going back about 30 years,” he said. “The U.S. tends to create a lot of low-end jobs and a number of high-paying jobs, but the middle class has gotten hollowed out. That’s one of the reasons why we have Donald Trump as an incoming president.”

Many work these kinds of jobs while building their career in other areas

There are career ladders in the service sector, Levenson said, but people who plan to move up have to work extra hard.

“It really depends on what kinds of skills you have,” he said. “It takes skill, some amount of luck and lots of perseverance. It’s hard for people who start out in really low paying jobs to make a quick jump into anything else. Many work in the hospitality industry as a second or third job while they’re trying to build their career in other areas.”