PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked second to last for its construction unemployment rate of 8.4 percent in August, ahead of only New Mexico, which had a 9.8 percent rate, Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. said Thursday.
Rhode Island’s construction unemployment rate slipped 1.9 percentage points compared with August 2015. August’s rate also was the lowest for the Ocean State since 2007. Rates were not seasonally adjusted.
North Dakota had the lowest construction unemployment rate in August at 2.3 percent, followed by Wyoming at 2.6 percent; Colorado, 2.7 percent; and Massachusetts, 2.9 percent.
The national construction unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in August, 1 percent lower than a year ago, producing the lowest August construction unemployment rate on record, the association said. Federal employment data also showed that the industry employed 183,000 more people nationwide than in August 2015, the association said.
According to ABC, people who are unemployed are considered unemployed in the industry in which they were last employed. New entrants (i.e., people who have not been previously employed) are not assigned an industry. The unemployment rate for an industry is the number unemployed in that industry divided by the labor force for that industry.
In a separate report, the Providence-Warwick-Fall River metropolitan area ranked 146th among the nation’s 358 metro areas for construction employment growth of 3 percent, or 800 jobs, year over year in August.
Construction jobs grew to 24,100 from 23,300, according to the Associated General Contractors of America, which analyzed federal employment data this week to rank U.S. metros. The Norwich-New London-Westerly, Conn.-R.I., metro ranked 84th for its 5 percent year-over-year construction job gain, to 4,200 from 4,000.
Construction employment increased in 220, or 61 percent, of 358 metro areas in the past year, held steady in 62 areas, and declined in 76 areas, it said.
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo., added the most construction jobs during the past year (11,400 jobs, 12 percent). The largest percentage gain occurred in Boise City, Idaho, (24 percent, 4,500 jobs).
The largest job loss over the year was in Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas (-3,700 jobs, -2 percent). The largest percentage decline for the past year was in Bloomington, Ill. (-16 percent, -500 jobs).
