ACP Pubs

Loren Faulkner

Opportunity Knocks-- Again
April 2, 2008

One thing about California; it has always been a land of opportunity. When the economy goes south in one sector, a bunch of other avenues for business and employment beckon.

Maybe it has to do with the predictable climate here—North, Central, Southern California—there are reasons it’s called the Golden State. Optimism seems always within reach. There’s always a sense that with some thought and a lot of diligence, a good living can be made here.

John Steinbeck in his 1930’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, touched on how Depression era farmers from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and elsewhere sought out California to find work and a new start. Ma and Pa Joad in the novel became what people thought of when they heard the word, “Oakie”. Hard working folks, down on their luck as forces beyond their control uprooted them. They found it tough going, but they found work where they could, and work they did.

Many of those same “Oakies” went on to become land owners and growers from Bakersfield, up the Central Valley, and South through Riverside, San Bernardino, and Imperial Counties. Read California history. They ended up doing well for themselves and their families.

And now, California has been in a housing boom for more than a decade, but that has come to a screeching halt thanks to the sub-prime mortgage and lending fiasco. The construction statistics are starting to show up. Burbank headquartered Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB) www.cirb.com reports:

The California construction employment forecast (has been) revised, showing construction employment lower than previously reported. The 2008 forecast is 11.5% below the February 2006 peak.  In February, construction employment was 0.4% lower than January 2008 and 8.6% lower than February 2007.

That represents a lot of residential construction workers, thousands of them. In Riverside and San Bernardino Counties alone, some 12,000 fewer construction workers are employed than just a year ago.

But opportunity knocks, because Governor Schwarzenegger has a Construction Worker Training Program in place to re-train out-of-work residential construction workers.

They will learn how to construct roads, levees, hospital and other state infrastructure. And there is plenty of work to go around since the passage of $42 billion in bond money in 2006. Keep close touch with California’s Employment Development Department www.edd.ca.gov in the next couple of months, if you are interested in this field.

And, if you are interested as an employer or company in training these folks, the same website states:

“EDD has just released a Solicitation for Proposal (SFP) for up to $4.5 million to fund short term transitional training of workers laid off from residential construction jobs. The funding was announced by Governor Schwarzenegger and will be awarded to organizations to train these workers for jobs requiring similar skills in public works and commercial construction. Individuals are not eligible to apply for these grants. Proposals are due on April 21 and once selections are made and grants awarded, information on training providers will be available through the EDD Web site and through local One Stop Career Centers.”

Opportunity is knocking… again.

Posted by Loren Faulkner on April 2, 2008 | Comments (0)