California and Hawaii
Add Most Jobs for the Year, North Dakota Has Biggest Actual and Percentage
Declines; West Virginia and Pennsylvania
Top Monthly List of Gainers, Arkansas and California Have Largest One-Month
Decreases
Forty-four states and the
District of Columbia added construction jobs between March 2015 and March 2016
while construction employment increased in 28 states between February and
March, according to analysis of Labor Department data released today by the
Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials noted that the
five states experiencing year-over-year construction employment declines are
all energy producing states where construction demand has likely suffered from
declining prices for coal, oil and other fuels.
“Construction employment
growth occurred all regions in the latest 12 months,” said Ken Simonson, chief
economist for the association. “The only soft spots in construction demand and
employment are in states that rely on energy extraction for a large segment of
their economy. The economic diversity across the leading job-growth states
suggest that construction will continue to add to jobs gains in much of the
country.”
California added the most
construction jobs (39,600 jobs, 5.6 percent) between March 2015 and March 2016.
Other states adding a high number of new construction jobs for the past 12
months include Florida (27,500 jobs, 6.5 percent), New York (17,300 jobs, 4.9
percent) and Massachusetts (16,000 jobs, 11.9 percent). Hawaii added the
highest percentage of new construction jobs during the past year (20.9 percent,
7,000 jobs), followed by Rhode Island (13.3 percent, 2,200 jobs), Massachusetts
and Nevada (11.6 percent, 7,500 jobs).
North Dakota lost the
highest percent and total number of construction jobs (-15.7 percent, -5,700
jobs) for the year. Other states that lost jobs for the year include Alaska
(-8.7 percent, -1,600 jobs), Wyoming (-7.1 percent, -1,700 jobs), Kansas (-5.6
percent, -3,400 jobs) and West Virginia (-1.2 percent, -400 jobs). Construction
employment was unchanged in Connecticut.
Pennsylvania added the
most construction jobs between February and March (6,000 jobs, 2.6 percent).
Other states adding a high number of construction jobs include Georgia (4,300
jobs, 2.5 percent), Illinois (4,100 jobs, 1.9 percent), Colorado (3,900 jobs,
2.5 percent) and Iowa (3,600 jobs, 4.4 percent). West Virginia (4.5 percent,
1,400 jobs) added the highest percentage of construction jobs during the past
month, followed by Iowa, Nevada (4.1 percent, 3,000 jobs) and Hawaii (3.3
percent, 1,300 jobs).
Construction employment
declined in 22 states during the past month and held steady in Washington, D.C.
California shed more construction jobs than any other state (-7,400 jobs, -1.0
percent), followed by Indiana (-2,300 jobs, -1.7 percent), Missouri (-2,000
jobs, -1.7 percent) and Minnesota (-1,600 jobs, -1.3 percent). Arkansas lost the
highest percentage of construction jobs between February and March (-3.0
percent, -1,500 jobs), followed by New Hampshire (-2.3 percent, -600 jobs) and
Alaska (-2.3 percent, -400 jobs).
Association officials
cautioned that worker shortages will continue to be more pronounced as
construction grows in many parts of the country. They again urged federal,
state and local officials to act on the measures outlined in the association's Workforce Development Plan to rebuild the once robust vocational education
system that once existed in many parts of the country to recruit and train new
workers.
“These healthy job gains
show that educators and policy makers in all states should provide more support
to construction education and training programs,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the
association’s chief executive officer. "As a result, we are loading many
students up with college debt instead of encouraging them to begin making
higher-than-average wages as construction craft workers.
"
Source: AGC of America
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