Construction Employment Rose in 43 States & DC in Dec. YOY

Arlington, VA, January 21, 2019-Forty-three states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs between December 2017 and December 2018, while 36 states added construction jobs between November and December, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of Labor Department data. Association officials cautioned that growing labor shortages and trade disputes were leading to higher construction costs.

Nearly four out of five construction firms expect to add employees in 2019, the economist said, based on the 2019 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook Survey that the association conducted with Sage. At the same time, 78% of the survey's 1,312 respondents said their firm was have a hard time filling positions, and two-thirds of the respondents reported they expect it will as hard or harder to hire workers in 2019.

The economist noted that job openings in construction totaled 285,000 at the end of November, the highest November level in the 18 years that the Labor Department has published the series. The number of unemployed jobseekers with recent construction experience-375,000-was the lowest yet for that month. Together, these figures suggest contractors in many states cannot find experienced workers to fill vacancies, Simonson said.

Texas added the most construction jobs in 2018 (46,800 jobs, 6.4%), followed by. Other states adding a large number of construction jobs in 2018 include Florida (34,900 jobs, 6.7%), California (21,700 jobs, 2.6%), Georgia (21,500 jobs, 11.3%) and Arizona (18,900 jobs, 12.5%). Connecticut added the highest percentage of construction jobs in 2018 (16.9%, 9,700 jobs), followed by Wyoming (14.9%, 2,900 jobs), Arizona, Nevada (12.3%, 10,600 jobs), North Dakota (11.6%, 2,900 jobs) and Georgia. Construction employment reached a record high in five states: Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas.

Six states shed construction jobs in 2018, while construction employment was unchanged in Mississippi. The largest decline occurred in South Carolina (-5,100 jobs, -5.0%), followed by Hawaii (-1,800 jobs, -4.8%) and Missouri (-1,200 jobs, -1.0%). South Carolina had the steepest percentage job loss for the year, followed by Hawaii, Alaska (-2.5%, -400 jobs) and Maine (-2.1%, -600 jobs).

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