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Friday, November 6th, 2009Recruiting is busier than ever in “a harbinger of things to come,” Barbara Hayes, executive director of the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization (SACTO) told the Real Estate Finance Forum on November 5.
SACTO’s role is to market the 6-county region to the rest of the world, Ms. Hayes explained. Half its inquiries, from businesses considering locating in the Sacramento region, are related to green tech and clean energy.
California is on the cutting edge for these businesses, many of them overseas. European governments are underwriting clean energy and green technology and they want to be in Sacramento. SACTO works with every local government in the region.
Among the assets she listed:
- Access to state and local policy makers. Being the state capital is an asset.
- Former military bases, which have become a job-generating engine. They come with lots of incentives.
- Our workforce is our best asset. UC Davis and Sacramento State are significant contributors in the fields of clean energy and green technology. She noted that Los Rios Community Colleges all offer important courses. The foremost expert on wind energy is at UC Davis.
Although the drop in housing prices and the rise in unemployment are problems for many people, they are assets for job recruitment. “A lot of valuable people are currently unemployed,” she noted. SACTO focuses on high value jobs.
The Sacramento climate is “almost perfect” for solar. The Southwest is actually too hot, she commented. However, Arizona and New Mexico offer manufacturing incentives that California does not, so California is losing manufacturers to them.
Being in California is both a negative and an asset, Ms. Hayes explained. Because of transportation costs, it often makes sense for companies to be here close to markets and the state’s population of 38 million. The Time Magazine cover story of November 2 is a great sales tool. On the other hand, high taxes and workers compensation costs are often negatives.
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