ACP Pubs

Loren Faulkner

The Key Role of Construction in California's Economy
June 25, 2008

Kenneth Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), just sent out the following interesting fact sheet about the importance of the construction industry to our State’s economy:

The industry employed 815,000 workers in May 2008, 5-percent of the state’s non-farm employment of 15,143,000 and a decrease of 9.8-percent from one year before. Nationally, construction accounted for 5-percent of non-farm employment but fell 5.1-percent over the year as homebuilding shrank.

Construction contributed $70 billion to state GDP of $1.8 trillion in 2007. Annual pay in 2006 in construction averaged $48,321, 1-percent more than the private sector average of $47,809. Nationally, construction pay averaged $44,496, 5-percent more than the national private sector average of $42,414.

Small business is big in construction. California had 74,000 construction firms in 2005, of which 89-percent employed fewer than 20 workers. In addition, California had 207,000 construction firms without employees, mainly sole proprietorships, in 2005.

California's population grew 0.8-percent from July 2006 to July 2007, 25th fastest of all states; the national growth rate was 1-percent. Population growth affects the demand for many types of construction.

Posted by Loren Faulkner on June 25, 2008 | Comments (0)