Non-seasonally adjusted construction unemployment rates rose nationally and in 38 states on a year-over-year basis in July, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). For the third consecutive month, all 50 states posted an industry unemployment rate less than 10%.
The industry employed 201,000 more workers nationally compared with July 2018, but the July 2019 unemployment rate was 0.4% higher than the July 2018 rate, according to ABC.
The states with the lowest estimated NSA construction unemployment rates in order from lowest to highest were:
- North Dakota and Utah (tie), 1.2%
- South Dakota, 1.3%
- Vermont, 1.7%
- Maine, 1.9%
All of these states except for Utah were in the top five in June. North Dakota and Utah tied for the lowest construction unemployment rate in July. For North Dakota, this was up from the third lowest rate in June and was the state’s lowest July rate since it fell to 0.8% in July 2015. For Utah, this was an improvement from eighth lowest in June, and was the state’s second lowest July rate on record, behind a rate of 1.1% in 2015. The state also had the second largest year-over-year rate decrease of 0.8%, behind a drop of 1.2% in Montana.
The states with the highest estimated NSA construction unemployment rates in order from lowest to highest were:
- New Mexico, 6.1%
- Michigan, 6.4%
- Kentucky, 7.3%
- Missouri, 7.6%
- Mississippi, 8.3%
All of these states except for Michigan were also in the bottom five in June. For the third month in a row, Mississippi had the highest estimated construction unemployment rate.
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