Leisure And Hospitality Leads Sacramento Job Growth
According to the latest press release (Aug. 21, 2015) for the Sacramento-Roseville area from the Employment Development Department, there was mostly good news in terms of job growth. Sacramento did see an uptick in unemployment from 5.6 percent to 6 percent. But most of the report focused around eight sectors with month-over increases in jobs. Total farming jobs increased by a good 7.8 percent, which coincides with the seasonal hiring trend of summer. Goods production, Manufacturing, Private Service Providing, Financial Activites, Professional & Business Services, Repair and Maintenance and Leisure & Hospitality all saw job growth compared to last month, but the clear leader of them all was Leisure and Hospitality with 1.9 percent growth. Compared to July of last year, overall Leisure and Hospitality added 7,700 more jobs.
This really is no surprise as Sacramento is amongst the leading cities in overall construction activity with a gain of 1,900 jobs over last year, with some of the biggest construction jobs involving the hotel industry. A peak at just what that 1.9 percent growth consists of shows that 1,700 of those jobs came from Accommodation & Food Services alone. And this trend will only continue. Just recently, Capital Public Radio reported that there are at least sixteen ongoing hotel proposals that span from Winters to Placerville all from major hotel chains and franchises. The biggest of these projects involves a sixteen story Hotel and Condo structure called the Kings Tower planned for the Sacramento Arena Complex, and a revamping of the old Marshall Hotel into a Hyatt Boutique Hotel just down the road. Bolstering these projects are the hotel occupancy and room rates that continue a strong upward trend following on the coattails of our larger California cousin to the north, the San Francisco Bay Area region.
Besides Leisure and Hospitality, in terms of overall job growth, Sacramento is still one of the best areas in the nation poised for big growth. According to the Economic Blog' New Geography, Sacramento jumped 46 places from 2014 out of a possible 421 cities that made the overall list of best cities for job growth. Previously, Sacramento was ranked 192 out of the entire lot. Their index is calculated based off of employment rates and overall employment momentum of an area over a five-year period.
Paulo Acoba is a California native raised in the Bay Area and living in the Central Valley. He enjoys distance running, cycling and grassroots motorsports. He holds a degree in management from the University of California Merced. Paulo has been writing for Examiner.com since 2012 and covering the Fresno area.
