by Calculated Risk on 1/19/2009 12:09:00 PM

Bloomberg has an article on the Inland Empire: California Finds Public-Works Spending No Unemployment Cure-All. The focus of the article is on public works projects, but the more important point is that areas with the highest levels of construction employment during the housing boom are now suffering the most from unemployment (no surprise!).

Only four years ago, Riverside and nearby San Bernardino, often called the Inland Empire, were California’s economic powerhouse, accounting for more than a fifth of the state’s new jobs. Today, unemployment reigns in the sprawling region east of Los Angeles. The 9.5 percent jobless rate in the two counties matches Detroit’s as the highest of any major metropolitan area in the U.S.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph (using Not Seasonally Adjusted data) shows construction as a percent of total employment for the Inland Empire, California and the U.S.

Although there was a surge in construction employment in the U.S., and about a 50% increase in California (as a percent of total employment), construction employment doubled (as a percent of total employment) in the Inland Empire.

The second graph shows the percent of construction employment and the unemployment rate for the Inland Empire.

With the housing bust, the percent construction employment has declined sharply and the unemployment rate has risen to almost 10%. Is it any surprise that jobless rate in the Inland Empire matches Detroit’s as the highest of any major metropolitan area in the U.S.?