Energy Projects & Homebuilding Fuel Employment Surge in Fastest-Growing Counties

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes monthly employment reports for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) that capture employment activity on the metro level, but sometimes it’s interesting to drill down deeper to the county level to get a more precise idea of where the action is.

Although BLS only publishes county-level data twice a year and the most recent data now available is from 2Q 2018, it’s still a good local economic indicator to watch. The chart on the following page lists the 50 counties that enjoyed the biggest year-over-year boost in electrical contractor employment through 2Q 2018, and you can get the data for more than a thousand counties as part of your Electrical Marketing subscription at www.electricalmarketing.com/industry-stats (look for Electrical Marketing Resource Center).

Thanks in large part to the expansion of several large chemical plants, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA, saw an increase of 1,726 electrical contractor employees, through 2Q 2018, the largest annual increase of any county. According to a report at www.theadvocate.com, Shintech plans to expand its facilities in Plaquemine; Methanex will build another $1.3 billion methanol plant in Ascension Parish; and ExxonMobil wants to expand a plant in Baton Rouge.

Arizona’s Maricopa County, which covers most of the Phoenix metro, was the only other county to see a YOY increase of more than 1,000 electrical contractor employees in 2Q 2018. The sizzling residential market in the Valley of the Sun is probably responsible for much of the large increase. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s building permit data through Oct. 2018, the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale MSA logged 19,676 single-family building permits, a 2,145-permit boost from Oct. 2017.

Click here to download an Excel spreadsheet in .csv file for Electrical Sales Potential for more than 900 counties.