R.I. 49th for lack of construction job growth in April

CONSTRUCTION IS SHOWN on the Providence Viaduct at the Atwells Avenue bridge. Rhode Island ranked 49th among the states and the District of Columbia for its lack of construction job growth in April.  / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
CONSTRUCTION IS SHOWN on the Providence Viaduct at the Atwells Avenue bridge. Rhode Island ranked 49th among the states and the District of Columbia for its lack of construction job growth in April. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked 49th – or third from the bottom – for losing 800 construction jobs in April compared with April 2014, according to a ranking of the states and the District of Columbia by the Associated General Contractors of America based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Construction jobs dropped to 15,700 in April in Rhode Island from 16,500 during the year-ago period.
The association said that construction firms added jobs in 40 states and the District of Columbia year over year in April, according to its analysis of the federal data.
Association officials said that even as construction employment continues to expand, workforce shortages and infrastructure funding challenges threaten future growth.
“The latest data show that construction is growing across most of the country, but the gains remain uneven by month and state,” Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, said in a statement.
California added more new construction jobs (42,600 jobs, 6.4 percent growth) year over year than any other state. Other states adding a high number of new construction jobs for the past 12 months included Florida (32,200 jobs, 8.2 percent) and Texas (25,300 jobs, 3.9 percent).
Idaho (12.4 percent, 4,400 jobs) added the highest percentage of new construction jobs during the past year, followed by Washington (12 percent, 18,700 jobs), Michigan (10.6 percent, 14,800 jobs) and New Jersey (9.9 percent, 13,900 jobs).
Seven states lost construction jobs during the past 12 months while construction employment was unchanged in three states. West Virginia (-4,400 jobs, -13.1 percent) lost the highest total and percent of construction jobs. Other states that lost a high number of construction jobs for the year were Mississippi (-3,200 jobs, -6.3 percent), Ohio (-3,000 jobs, -1.5 percent), Nebraska (-1,100 jobs, -2.3 percent) and Rhode Island (-800 jobs, -4.8 percent).

While overall employment has been at record levels for more than a year, the association said only five states have exceeded pre-recession highs for construction employment: Iowa, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
Simonson said that construction employment “fell so far and for so long” in many states that many veteran workers have left the industry for other sectors or have retired.

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