construction employment continues to show new gains, says report

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting that new construction jobs increased in a 12-month period between September 2018 and September of this year in 244 out of 358 metro areas surveyed.

Only in 61 metro areas did the job rate decrease, while 53 metro areas reported no substantive change.

The largest gains had a distinctly Western flavor with the Dallas-Plano-Irving area producing 15,000 new construction jobs, for a 10 percent increase.

Once again, the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area showed double-digit construction job increases, adding 12,400 new jobs, for a 10 percent increase.

The only other metro area that came close to the Dallas and Phoenix area growth was the Long Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale region, which saw 10,700 new construction jobs, for an overall 7 percent increase.

Construction job decreases were reported in metro New York City, which lost 3,600 jobs between September 2018 and September 2019—for a 2 percent decline.

The job loss was nearly as severe in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metro area of North Carolina where more than 3,400 jobs were lost, for a 5 percent decline.

According to the BLS, the vast majority of job losses in all nonfarm employment occurred in the Midwest, while the states of the West saw anywhere from 0.1 to 3 percent growth.

A separate reported issued by the BLS noted that the nation’s construction industry has added an average of 13,000 jobs per month so far in 2019.

That report, Current Employment Statistics Highlights, added: “The October employment change followed weaker economic indicators for construction in September with declining residential building permits and new home sales.”

By Garry Boulard

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