With buildings rising all over Sacramento region, the construction industry sets a record

Driven by an increase in housing starts and a slew of home improvement projects, the number of construction workers in the four-county Sacramento region has reached its highest level in at least 30 years, the latest state data show.

About 76,000 construction employees, on average, worked in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties from November 2020 through October 2021, according to the state Employment Development Department. That’s up by about 6,000 from the same period a year prior and by about 21,000 from five years ago.

The last time nearly this many construction employees worked in the Sacramento region was during the height of the housing boom in late 2005. From November 2004 through October 2005, about 73,000 construction workers lived in the Sacramento area.

Construction employment is growing faster in the Sacramento region than elsewhere in the state. The number of construction workers here rose by about 9% during the last year, compared to 2% growth statewide.

A few factors help explain the trend:

▪ Developers are building more homes. Builders in the four-county region pulled more permits for new houses during the last 12 months than during any period since the housing boom, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

▪ State government has recently undertaken a local building boom, with projects worth billions of dollars either recently completed or still underway.

▪ Local homeowners are starting lots of home improvement projects. Most of the construction workers in the area are contractors not necessarily involved in new home construction, state data show.

Construction workers tend to make relatively high wages compared to other professions that don’t require a college degree.

The average hourly wage for construction workers in the Sacramento region during the first quarter of 2021 was about $29 — the equivalent of $61,000 a year for a full-time, year-round worker, state data show. By comparison, transportation and warehouse workers, on average, earned about $20 an hour; sales workers earned about $24 an hour; office support workers earned about $23 an hour and restaurant workers earned $16 an hour.

This story was originally published December 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.