Thirty-five US states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs between September 2016 and September 2017, while 26 states added construction jobs between August and September as some state employment levels were impacted by recent hurricanes, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of Labor Department data.
California added the most construction jobs (44,600 jobs, 5.7 percent) during the past year, while Oregon (13,500 jobs, 14.9 percent) added the highest percentage of new construction jobs during the period.
Fourteen states shed construction jobs between September 2016 and September 2017 while construction employment was unchanged in Idaho. Iowa both lost the highest number of construction jobs and the highest percentage (-6,600 jobs, -8.1 percent) for the year.
The association noted that Hurricane Harvey, which struck Texas and other Gulf Coast states in late August, had probably contributed to a large rebound in construction employment in Texas from August to September. Hurricane Irma hit Florida in mid-September and led to an extreme but probably temporary drop in construction employment there.
Among the 26 states that added construction jobs between August and September, Texas added more than any other state (4,100 jobs, 0.6 percent), while Nebraska added the highest percentage of construction jobs for the month (3.6 percent, 2,700 jobs).
Twenty-two states lost construction jobs between August and September, while construction employment was unchanged in Indiana, Tennessee and D.C. Florida lost the most construction jobs for the month in number and percentage (-21,000 jobs, -4.1 percent).