Twenty-four states and Washington, D.C., added construction jobs in September as contractors continued to struggle with worker shortages, according to Associated General Contractors of America. Forty states added construction jobs during the past year.
“It is great that four out of five states have added construction jobs over the past year,” said Ken Simonson, AGC’s chief economist. “Even more states would be seeing gains if there were enough qualified workers available to fill job openings.”
Texas added the most construction jobs from August to September—8,100—and Ohio had the largest percentage increase of construction jobs for the month—2.7%. During the past 12 months, Texas added the most construction jobs—42,300—and Alaska had the largest percentage increase—21.1%.
Texas lost the largest number of construction jobs (-1,600) for the month and North Dakota had the largest percentage decline (-2.1%). During the past 12 months, New York lost the most construction jobs (-6,900) and Oregon had the largest percentage decline (-4.1%).