Thirty-eight US states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs between April 2017 and April 2018, while 29 states added construction jobs between March and April, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of Labor Department. Association officials said the employment growth likely would have been higher if firms could find more qualified workers to hire.
“Firms in many parts of the country are working to keep pace with growing demand for construction services,” said chief economist Ken Simonson. “Many of those firms are having a hard time finding and hiring enough qualified workers as the pool of available workers remains very tight.”
California added the most construction jobs (59,500 jobs, 7.4 percent) during the past year, while West Virginia (11.6 percent, 3,500 jobs) added the highest percentage of new construction jobs during the past year.
Eleven states shed construction jobs between April 2017 and April 2018 while construction employment was unchanged in Montana. North Dakota lost the highest total and percentage of construction jobs (-4,900 jobs, -17.0 percent.
Twenty-nine states added construction jobs between March and April. California added the most (10,000 jobs, 1.2 percent), while Louisiana added the highest percentage of construction jobs for the month (2,200 jobs, 1.5 percent).
Nineteen states lost construction jobs from March to April, while construction employment was unchanged in Mississippi, Montana and the District of Columbia. Indiana lost the most construction jobs for the month (-2,300 jobs, -1.6 percent), while North Dakota lost the highest percentage of construction jobs (-2.8 percent, -700 jobs).