Southern California’s construction industry is gaining traction after years of decline, but it still has a long way to go.
That’s the upshot of a report issued today by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. The study notes that the 313,700 workers who were employed in 2015 fell 23.7 percent, or nearly 98,000, below the number who were employed at the industry’s peak in 2006.
THE EMPLOYMENT RIPPLE EFFECT
The report notes, however, that those 313,700 direct payroll jobs were supported by an another 189,600 jobs through indirect effects of supply chain purchases that were not made within the industry itself and an additional 151,900 jobs that were supported through the household spending of employees in the industry and its supply chain.
CONSTRUCTION PERMITS HAVE RISEN
And construction permits, a forward indicator of activity to come, are on the rise.
Since the housing market collapse, new home construction in the five-county region has been sharply divided between a surge in new multi-family units — primarily apartments — and a more gradual recovery in single-family homes.
In 2015, 29,000 multi-family building permits and 15,000 permits for single-family homes were filed. Those numbers have gradually risen each year since 2009, which saw just 6,000 building permits for multi-family units and 9,000 for single-family homes.
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