Forty-four US states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs between October 2017 and October 2018, while 36 states and D.C. added construction jobs between September and October, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of Labor Department data.
Texas added the most construction jobs during the past year (49,900 jobs, 6.9 percent), while Arizona (18,000 jobs, 12.1 percent) added the highest percentage of new construction jobs during the past year.
Six states shed construction jobs between October 2017 and 2018. The largest declines and steepest percentage losses occurred in New Jersey (-3,800 jobs, -2.5 percent).
Among the 36 states with one-month job gains between September and October, Florida (3,000 jobs, 0.5 percent) had the largest gains, while Iowa added the highest percentage of construction jobs for the month (2.0 percent, 1,600 jobs).
From September to October, construction employment declined in 12 states and was unchanged in Connecticut and Maine. Louisiana lost the most construction jobs (-1,900 jobs, -1.3 percent), while Mississippi lost the highest percentage of construction jobs in October (-1.6 percent, -700 jobs).