July 9, 2004

Forecast: Coming year brings
slow, steady job growth for region

Full Report (pdf)
The Sacramento Region’s job market should continue its slow improvement over the next year, according to the quarterly CSUS Forecast from the California Institute for County Government at California State University, Sacramento.

The forecast predicts the region’s job growth will reach about 2 percent by next spring, led by continued strength in the construction and finance sectors. Manufacturing also appears poised to return to positive job growth after more than three years of losses.

The government sector remains a weak spot, the forecast says, and will likely continue to lose jobs as state and local budget difficulties continue.

Overall, after performing somewhat better than the rest of the state and the nation in recent years, the forecast says the region is no longer keeping up. The region’s job growth rate in May was a seasonally adjusted 0.44 percent, while it was 0.69 statewide and 1.12 percent nationally.

The quarterly CSUS Forecast of the region's job outlook uses an econometric model of the six-county Capital Region with more than two dozen variables.

More information is available from Matthew Newman, director of the California Institute for County Government, at (916) 324-0796, or at the institute’s website at www.cicg.org. Additional media assistance is available by contacting CSUS public affairs at (916) 278-6156.

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