Tough Times for Sacramento's Construction Market

Many of my recent posts have discussed the improving construction industry (click here and here). These improving trends are over macro-regions (west coast, southeast, etc.). There are many metropolitan areas that are going gangbusters (38 tower cranes over San Francisco!). But others are still hurting, despite promising trends for the industry overall. One such place is Sacramento. Consider these stats from the Associated General Contractors of America reported in this week's Sacramento Business Journal:

• 4,300 lost contraction jobs in the Sacramento metro area between October 2012 and October 2013.
• The job losses equate to a 11% loss of construction jobs in the four-county Sacramento Region.
• Sacramento is ranked 331 (out of 336) for construction job growth nationally. Ouch.
• The region has 39,100 construction workers.

Despite this, graduates of Sacramento State's Construction Management Department are still highly sought after. Where are they going? Click here to find out. Spoiler alert: big cities other than Sacramento.