33 states see lower construction unemployment rates

by Christopher Brinckerhoff | 5 August 2024 6:00 am

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The national June 2024 not seasonally adjusted construction unemployment rate was 3.3 percent, down 0.3 percent from 2023, according to Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC)[2] analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The analysis also found that 33 states had lower unemployment rates over the same period, two states were unchanged (Georgia and Michigan), and 15 states had higher unemployment rates.

National payroll construction employment was 232,000 higher than June 2023. Since February 2022, seasonally adjusted construction employment has exceeded a pre-pandemic peak of 7.6 million. As of June, payroll construction employment was 8.25 million people.

As of June, ABC Indicates relative tightness of the construction employment market; 38 states had lower construction unemployment rates compared to June 2019, 11 states had higher rates, and Minnesota was unchanged.

Bernard Markstein, president, chief economist at Markstein Advisors, says, “Healthy economic growth and the prospect of lower interest rates in coming months, along with federal spending on infrastructure, have bolstered construction activity and employment. As projects move forward, construction companies are hiring. The anticipation of future construction projects provides additional incentive to hire and train construction workers.”

In June, 43 states had lower estimated construction unemployment rates than in May, five states had higher rates, and Michigan and New Hampshire posted the same rates.

Five states with the lowest estimated construction unemployment rates for June were:

• North Dakota, 0.9 percent
• South Dakota, 1.0 percent
• Alaska and New Hampshire (tie), 1.3 percent
• Oklahoma and Oregon (tie), 1.7 percent

Alaska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Oregon each had their lowest June NSA estimated construction unemployment rate on record. North Dakota had the second largest year-over-year decline in its rate (down 1.3 percent) after Connecticut (down 2.1 percent). New Hampshire scored its second lowest June rate, behind last year’s 1.2 percent rate. South Dakota had its lowest June rate since 2001’s 0.7 percent rate.

The five states with the highest June estimated NSA construction unemployment rates were:

• Ohio, 4.8 percent
• New Mexico, 4.9 percent
• Illinois, 6.1 percent
• New Jersey, 7.1 percent
• Rhode Island, 9.8 percent

Source URL: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/news/industry-news/construction-empl/

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