Prov.-Warwick metro lost 2% of construction jobs in July

CONSTRUCTION IS under way at The Village at South County Commons. This 22,000-square-foot, three-story office
building will be an addition to the existing development of buildings. The Providence-Warwick metropolitan area lost 2 percent of construction jobs in July compared with July 2014. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
CONSTRUCTION IS under way at The Village at South County Commons. This 22,000-square-foot, three-story office building will be an addition to the existing development of buildings. The Providence-Warwick metropolitan area lost 2 percent of construction jobs in July compared with July 2014. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – The Providence-Warwick metropolitan area ranked 233rd out of 358 metro areas nationwide for its decline in construction employment year over year in July, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.
The Providence-Warwick metro saw construction employment decline 2 percent to 21,900 in July from 22,400 in July 2014.
The association, in a news release, said that construction employment increased in fewer than half of the nation’s metro areas between July 2014 and July 2015, marking the weakest expansion since late 2011.
“Although construction employment and spending are still expanding well overall, the gains are increasingly spotty,” Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Uncertainty over funding for transportation infrastructure, a contraction in oil and gas drilling and turmoil in international markets have left many local construction markets behind even as others grow strongly.”
Out of the 358 metro areas for which the federal Labor Department provides construction employment data, only 168 (47 percent) experienced an increase in construction employment from July 2014 to July 2015, he said. Construction employment declined in 138 metro areas (39 percent) and was stagnant in 52 metros (15 percent). Nationally, construction employment increased by 231,000 (3.8 percent) over the past 12 months.
Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. added the largest number of construction jobs in the past year (10,300 jobs, 13 percent). The largest percentage gains occurred in El Centro, Calif. (28 percent, 500 jobs), Weirton-Steubenville and W.V.-Ohio (28 percent, 500 jobs).
The largest job loss from July 2014 to July 2015 was in Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (-3,300 jobs, -4 percent). The largest percentage decline for the past year was in Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula (-23 percent, -2,100 jobs) followed by Lawrence-Methuen Town-Salem, Mass.-N.H. (-16 percent, -400 jobs).
“More metro areas are likely to suffer construction employment declines if policy makers in Washington fail to enact an adequately funded long-term bill for highway and transit infrastructure investment,” Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s CEO, said.

No posts to display