The construction industry is one of the leading industries in Yuba and Sutter Counties. As of a July 2007 estimate, 25% of employed males in Brownsville and Challenge, 23% of employed males in Sutter, 16% of employed males in Wheatland, Linda, and Beale Air Force Base, 15% of employed males in Marysville, 14% of employed males in Tierra Buena and Loma Rica, 13% of employed males in Yuba City and Olivehurst, 12% of employed males in South Yuba City, and 10% of employed males in Cranmore, Kirkville, Meridian, and Robbins work in construction.
The construction industry has suffered considerably in recent years as a result of the Housing Market Crash.
History
The construction industry was responsible for the first labor strike ever held in the Yuba-Sutter area. W. T. Ellis, Jr., wrote in his autobiography Memories: My Seventy-Two Years in the Romantic County of Yuba, California:
| There was a labor strike in Marysville in August of 1853. That was probably the first here. The word "strike" was already well known, apparently. |
| The Daily Evening Herald, predecessor of the Morning Appeal, said in its issue of August 8, 1853, that the carpenters employed on buildings under construction had gone out on strike and that they had held a parade that day, with a band and everything. The men were being paid only $4.00 and $6.50, which was quite a comedown from the $16.00 a day for miners and common labor in the days to and preceding 1851. The Herald said that the carpenters had to pay $12.00 for board, $3.00 for room and $2.00 for laundry, by the week, and therefore needed more pay. They were demanding $8.00 a day. |
