Construction employment below peak levels in every state

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The recovery hasn’t hit the construction market just yet. A full five years into the Great Recession and construction employment remains below peak levels in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to a new analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America.

“The construction industry remains a shell of its former self in too many states,” the association’s CEO, Stephen E. Sandherr, said in a statement. “Making long-overdue investments in our nation’s aging roads, bridges and transit systems will put people back to work and give a needed boost to the broader economy.”

Sandherr noted that construction employment in Nevada has declined more compared with that state’s peak employment levels than in any other state. Construction employment in the state declined 61 percent since its peak level in June 2006, from 146,400 employees to just 57,500 as of November.

Other states experiencing large declines in construction employment compared with peak levels include Arizona (55 percent below peak), Florida
(52 percent below peak) and Idaho (43 percent below peak).

In contrast, construction employment has almost returned to peak levels in North Dakota, where the November employment of 25,400 was only 3 percent below the peak set in September of 26,100. Other states with current employment only slightly below peak levels include Oklahoma (6 percent below peak), Louisiana (9 percent below peak) and South Dakota (13 percent below peak).