Construction employment expanded in 228 metro areas, declined in 64 and was stagnant in 47 between Oct. 2013 and Oct. 2014, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America, Arlington, Va., and the most recent employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
According to AGC’s analysis of the BLS employment data, Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas added the largest number of construction jobs in the past year (12,900 jobs, +7%), followed by Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas (11,000 jobs, +9%), Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill. (9,200 jobs, +7%) and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. (8,300 jobs, +11%). The largest percentage gains occurred in Pascagoula, Miss. (+28%, 1,800 jobs), Terre Haute, Ind. (+24%, 1,000 jobs), Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio (+21%, 7,800 jobs), Cleveland, Tenn. (+19%, 300 jobs) and Fargo, N.D.-Minn. (+19%, 1,700 jobs).
The largest job losses from Oct. 2013 to Oct. 2014 were in Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, Md. (-4,500 jobs, -14%), followed by Edison-New Brunswick, N.J. (-3,000 jobs, -7%), Gary, Ind. (-2,800 jobs, -15%) and Putnam-Rockland-Westchester, N.Y. (-2,200 jobs, -7%). The largest percentage decline for the past year was in Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-W.V. (-36%, -800 jobs).