Southland Has Lead in State Construction

The larger portion of increased construction in California during the first quarter is attributed to activity in Southern California, according to a report by the Sacramento-based Construction Awareness Program.

Total volume for the state in the first three months of 1986 rose nearly 12% above last year, reaching $7.9 billion in three categories: residential, non-residential and heavy construction in repair and upkeep of streets, work on bridges, sewers, road improvement and harbor expansion.

Construction employment also increased overall in the first quarter, up 3.2% over last year and averaging 487,600 workers.

In Southern California, five counties, Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Diego, had a collective residential construction volume of $2,393,493,000, or 55.7%, of the total for the state. For non-residential construction the volume was $1,824,065,000, or 62.3%, of the total for California. Figures for heavy construction for the same area are $379,944,000, or 52.7%, of the total.

Southern California activity accounted for 57.8%, or $4,597,502,000, of the total $7.9 billion figure reported by the survey. This activity, researchers observed, is attributable primarily to the needs of a growing population and extensive commercial and industrial infrastructure expansion in the five southern counties.