Construction Employment Increases in 250 of 358 Metro Areas Between July 2021 and 2022 but Contractors Report Difficulty Finding Workers
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, experience the largest gains over 12 months; Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida, and Bergen-Hudson-Passaic, New Jersey, post the worst year-over-year decreases
Construction employment increased in 250, or 70%, of 358 metro areas between July 2021 and July 2022, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government employment data. But association officials cautioned that most construction firms report they are struggling to find enough qualified workers to hire, according to a survey the association and Autodesk released Aug. 31.
“It is good to see construction employment top year-ago levels in more than two-thirds of the nation’s metro areas,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “However, the record number of construction job openings at the end of June and the near-record low for construction unemployment, as well as our own survey, indicate industry employment would have been even higher if there were enough qualified workers.”