Twenty-seven states and Washington, D.C., added construction jobs in April, and construction employment is up in 32 states since February 2020 amid labor shortages, according to www.agc.org.
Florida added the most construction jobs from March to April—4,300—and Delaware had the largest percentage increase of construction jobs for the month—2.1%. California lost the largest number of construction jobs (-13,200) for the month and Arkansas had the largest percentage decline (-2.7%).
Thirty-two states added construction jobs from February 2020 to April. Utah added the most jobs—16,300—and had the largest percentage increase during that period—14.3%. New York lost the most construction jobs from February 2020 to April (-27,700 jobs) and had the largest percentage decline (-6.8%).
Ken Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractors of America, said government data from the monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey show there were 415,000 job openings in the construction industry at the end of March, which exceeded the 388,000 employees hired during that month.
“Construction employment gains have stalled in many states in recent months as the pool of available workers has dried up,” Simonson said. “It will be hard to satisfy demand for private projects and infrastructure unless more workers are available to fill the record number of openings.”
