Construction employment increased in 250 or 70 percent of 358 metro areas between July 2021 and July 2022, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government employment data. However, association officials cautioned that most construction firms report they are struggling to find enough qualified workers to hire, according to a survey the association and Autodesk will release on Wednesday.
“It is good to see construction employment top year-ago levels in more than two-thirds of the nation’s metro areas,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “However, the record number of construction job openings at the end of June and the near-record low for construction unemployment, as well as our own survey, indicate industry employment would have been even higher if there were enough qualified workers.”
The unemployment rate for jobseekers with construction experience plunged to 3.5 percent in July from 6.1 percent a year earlier, Simonson noted. He added that there were 330,000 job openings in construction at the end of June, the highest June total in the 22-year history of the government data.
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas added the most construction jobs (31,000 jobs or 15 percent), followed by Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (9,900 jobs, 7 percent) and Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, Illinois (8,100 jobs, 6 percent). Cheyenne, Wyoming had the largest percentage gain (17 percent, 700 jobs), followed by Bloomington, Illinois (16 percent, 500 jobs) and Duluth, Minnesota-Wisconsin (16 percent, 1,500 jobs).
Construction jobs declined over the year in 59 metro areas and were unchanged in 49 areas. The largest loss occurred in Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida (-6,300 jobs, -8 percent), followed by Bergen-Hudson-Passaic, New Jersey (-3,400 jobs, -11 percent); Richmond, Virginia (-2,500 jobs, -6 percent) and Baton Rouge, Louisiana (-2,300 jobs, -6 percent). The largest percentage decline was in Bergen-Hudson-Passaic, followed by Monroe, Michigan (-10 percent, -200 jobs); Ithaca, New York (-8 percent, -100 jobs); Charleston, West Virginia (-8 percent, -500 jobs); and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford.