Charlotte area gains construction jobs

Listen to this article

The Charlotte metropolitan statistical area gained 2,500 construction jobs in the year ending in September, which amounted to a 6 percent increase, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.

The Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, S.C., region ranked 106 out of 339 in job growth, employing 44,500 people in construction jobs in September from 42,000 in September 2013.

Statewide, the state gained 7,000 jobs over the past year, up 4 percent to 189,200 from 182,200. Growth was greatest in the Charlotte area, followed by Wilmington at 4 percent, Fayetteville at 2 percent, and Raleigh-Cary at 0.3 percent. Construction jobs were lost in the Greensboro, Hickory, Rocky Mount and Winston-Salem areas, and remained flat in Asheville, Burlington, Durham-Chapel Hill and Greenville.

Construction employment grew in 236 of the metro areas ranked, according to the AGCA’s analysis of federal employment data.

“It is good news that construction employment gains have spread to more than two-thirds of the nation’s metro areas,” said Ken Simonson, AGCA chief economist.

The Houston area added the largest number of construction jobs, and Owensboro, Ky., showed the largest percentage growth. The Phoenix area exhibited the largest decline in number of jobs, and the largest percentage decline was in the Steubenville, Ohio-Weirton, W.Va., area.