US construction employment declined in 111 out of 337 metropolitan areas between January 2011 and January 2012, increased in 169 and stayed level in 57, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released Tuesday by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).
"The mixed construction employment results reflect the conflict between slowly rebounding private sector demand for construction and declining public sector investments," said Ken Simonson, Chief Economist for AGC. "For every metro area that is adding construction jobs, there is another one where construction employment continues to fall or is stagnant."
In the report, association officials said that the mixed construction employment numbers would have shown improvement if US politicians had not delayed the passing of a number of key infrastructure measures to fund highway, transit, water and utility maintenance and upgrades.
"What makes these jobs figures so frustrating is that they could, and should, have been much better," said Stephen E. Sandherr, CEO of AGC. "There is a growing sense among the broader business community that the economy is being held back by Washington's failure to reach agreement on legislation everyone agrees is essential."