As population grows, so do a region's jobs - and that's what happened with Sacramento: a 13 percent jump from 2000 to the labor market's peak in 2007. Then, of course, the recession sent the economy crashing back to earth. Now, the workforce is less than two percent higher than it was a decade ago. Sacramento State economist Sanjay Varshney says that shows the region's labor market isn't as advanced as it should be:
Varshney: "While Sacramento clearly has evolved from a cow town and has really matured very nicely, as we go forward, we gotta find ways to diversify the economic mix and really bring in higher growth and higher-end jobs and industries."
Varshney says the region is far too dependent on government jobs, which make up a third of the labor market and have grown 17 percent in the last 10 years.