Southern California’s construction workforce was at 98% of its peak staffing in December – a high level of employment that suggests rebuilding from wildfire damage faces a skills gap.
Construction bosses employed 479,900 workers in December in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties, according to stats from the Employment Development Department. That’s up 4,600 in a year in the six-county region. By the way, construction employs 5% of all Southern California workers.
The challenge is that construction’s recent high staffing was 491,800 workers in October 2023. Compared with the latest tally, the region’s industry is only 2%, or 11,900 jobs, below its recent pinnacle.
Yes, construction work is fairly fluid. Industry bosses commonly move their crews to various job sites to keep paychecks flowing.
However, the pre-firestorm workload kept job fairly counts close to this real estate cycle’s peak employment. That narrow gap suggests that there are relatively few out-of-work construction hands needed to fill an expected rush of reconstruction efforts.
So, it’s likely that wildfire reconstruction — which spans 10,000-plus properties and huge amounts of infrastructure — will have to pull talent from other parts of the state or nation.
Skill sets
The potential shortfall involves numerous local skill sets.
Think about three slices of local construction work tracked by the EDD in all but Ventura County – and how December’s staffing in the other five counties was slightly below recent peaks …
Trades: 309,400 specialty contractors employed – up 1,800 in a year – vs. the recent high staffing of 319,700 workers in October 2023. This niche is 3% or 10,300 workers under its peak.
Structures: 103,300 builders of buildings at work – up 1,600 in a year – compared with a peak of 105,000 in July 2024. December was 1,700 workers or 2% under the peak.
Infrastructure: 49,300 workers who concentrate on giant projects – up 900 in a year – contrasted to the 50,300 top in October 2023. It’s only 1,000 jobs or 2% under the peak.
County counts
Consider construction staffing at a more local level shows and there’s only modest variations in staffing. Southern California’s five job markets, ranked by number of construction workers …
Los Angeles County: 150,800 workers in December – up 2,000 in a year – compared with the 154,300 high in July 2022. That’s 3,500 or 2% under its peak.
Inland Empire: 115,200 workers – off 400 in a year – compared with the 120,600 set high in October 2023. That’s 5,400 or 5% under its peak.
Orange County: 102,900 workers – off 1,300 in a year – compared with the 108,600 high in August 2018. That’s 5,700 or 6% under its peak.
San Diego County: 93,100 workers – up 4,000 in a year – compared with the 93,800 high in October 2024. That’s 700 or 1% under its peak.
Ventura County: 17,900 workers – up 300 in a year – compared with the 18,500 high in August 2023. So, 600 or 3% under its peak.
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
