Construction employment up 10 percent in Charlotte while falling statewide

CHARLOTTE – The Charlotte metropolitan area saw a 10 percent increase in construction employment in November over November 2012, by far the largest gain in the state, which lost jobs as a whole, based on the latest construction employment report from the Associated General Contractors of America.

Charlotte ranked 40^th out of 339 metropolitan areas nationally in the percentage increase in construction jobs.

The metropolitan area, which includes Charlotte, Gastonia and Rock Hill, S.C., gained 4,000 construction jobs year over year, to 43,100 jobs from 39,100 jobs in November 2012. Charlotte’s November peak was in 2007, when 59,300 people worked in construction and its low of 37,400 was in 2010.

Those include positions in the mining and logging industries.

But N.C. as a whole lost 2,500 jobs over that same period, a 1 percent drop. Raleigh was responsible for the largest loss of jobs, dropping 3,100 positions, a 10 percent fall.

Dave Simpson, government relations and building director for the Carolinas branch of the AGC, said a lack of public spending on construction projects statewide – and especially in Raleigh – hurt, while Charlotte benefitted from strong multifamily construction and a resurgent single-family housing industry.

“In the building industry, things still are hurting,” Simpson said. “2013 was still a pretty flat year for building construction.

“Right now I’m still seeing folks wringing their hands in the building and utility sectors, so the reality is that things haven’t picked up to where we expected them to. There are pockets with bright spots. Multifamily construction – apartments – is still a very strong market.”

Raleigh wasn’t the only city in N.C. to lose construction jobs year over year. Greenville, Rocky Mount and Winston-Salem all lost 100 jobs, and Wilmington lost 500, according to the AGC report. Burlington and the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metro area held steady.

Other than Charlotte, Durham-Chapel Hill gained 100 jobs, Fayetteville added 200, and Greensboro-High Point reported 300 more construction jobs.

As for the state’s overall drop in construction jobs, Simpson said it could be down to a lack of spending on public works.

“Infrastructure funding is a big need,” he said. “The state governmental operations committee said there was a need for millions of dollars for the UNC (university) system.

“A lot of the buildings are in bad shape and in serious need of repair. The governor has said that many of the government buildings in Raleigh are eyesores.”

Simpson said a conservative estimate on what’s needed to be spent on public infrastructure repairs is $4 billion.

According to the AGC, N.C. was the ninth-worst in year-over-year construction employment change among U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Fairing worse were D.C., which was down 4 percent; Alabama and Indiana, down 3 percent; and Kentucky, Montana, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, down 2 percent.

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. added the largest number of construction jobs, 105,00, in the past year, followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif., with 9,100; Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif., with 8,200; and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., with 6,400 jobs. The largest percentage gains occurred in Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-W.V., with a 29 percent increase, followed by Eau Claire, Wis., 27 percent; Fargo, N.D., 24 percent; and Pascagoula, Miss., 24 percent.

“Construction employment continued to expand in many parts of the country in November, but most areas have a long way to go before reaching prior peak levels,” Stephen E. Sandherr, the AGC’s CEO, said in the report. “It will take many more months of strong economic growth and new investments in public infrastructure before many places experience construction employment levels close to their prior peaks.”

Despite the drop in 2013 construction employment across North Carolina, Simpson said Carolinas AGC is predicting slight gains for statewide construction this year.

“We are predicting some modest growth in 2014 and hopeful that folks pick up on the fact that now is a great time to get into construction,” he said. “The prices are attractive and there is lots of work that needs to be done.

“Another good sign is the housing industry is picking up and the commercial construction industry is 6 months to a year behind that. Some of the architects are saying they’re getting more plans, which translates to more jobs. It won’t happen overnight, but it’s looking a little brighter.”