Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have added construction jobs since before the start of the pandemic in February despite an uptick in industry employment between October and November, according to a new analysis of government data by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). The AGC said a lack of available workers to hire is one of the main reasons employment is below pre-pandemic levels.
“Construction activity has picked up in recent months but still has not reached the employment levels of early last year in most of the country during what has become a very tight labor market,” Ken Simonson, the chief economist for the AGC, said in a news release. “If contractors had found enough qualified workers, more states would have recovered fully by now from the pandemic-induced job losses.”
Since February 2020, Texas, New York, California, and Louisiana have lost the most construction jobs, while Wyoming, Louisiana, and New York have lost the largest percentage of industry jobs. During the same period, Florida, Utah, and Washington have added the most jobs in pure numbers, while South Dakota and Idaho have experienced the greatest percentage increase in industry employment.
On a month-to-month basis, 36 states and Washington, D.C. added construction jobs. Florida, Illinois, and Texas added the most jobs on a monthly basis while Louisiana, North Carolina, and New Jersey lost the most jobs between October and November.
