Construction Employment Increases in 31 States and D.C. From May to June

Construction employment increased in 31 states and the District of Columbia between May and June, according to an analysis of government data by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). After an April in which the construction industry lost nearly one million jobs, employment rebounded in May as states and the District of Columbia added jobs. However, the decrease in the number of states experiencing employment gains in the construction industry suggests employment gains may have stalled, according to the AGC.

“The widespread job gains in June follow even more universal increases in May,” said AGC chief economist Ken Simonson. “But the government’s employment snapshot was based on payrolls during the week of June 12."

Simonson said more recent data collected by Procore on hours worked on construction jobsites suggests employment reached its peak in mid-June and has begun to decline. Procore data suggests jobsite hours reached a peak of 15.1 million during the week of June 7-13. Since that point, totals have slipped in each successive week, bottoming out at 14.6 million jobsite hours during the week of June 21-27.

New York added the most construction jobs from May to June, and Massachusetts experienced the largest percentage increase in industry employment during June. Louisiana lost the most construction jobs on a month-over-month basis while Nevada experienced the highest percentage loss of industry jobs between May and June.

On a year-over-year (YOY) basis, construction employment decreased in 34 states and the District of Columbia while increasing in 15 states. Utah added the most construction jobs on a YOY basis, while South Dakota experienced the largest percentage increase in industry jobs between June 2019 and June 2020. New York has lost the most construction jobs in the past 12 months, while Vermont experienced the largest YOY percentage decline in industry employment.

The AGC cautioned that the recent increase in coronavirus cases across the country likely means there will be more future project cancellations, which could lead to more industry layoffs.