Despite a 2021 uptick in construction activity, overall jobs in the industry remain below pre-pandemic levels, according to a new analysis.
The Washington-based Associated General Contractors of America is reporting that employment in the industry in some 39 states is less than what it was in February of 2020, with Texas leading the way in the number of jobs lost at more than 56,700.
The states with the biggest job declines are also the country’s largest states population-wise, with New York off by 50,700 jobs and California down by 34,900.
At the same time, the West is leading in the number of new construction jobs as of this summer, with Utah adding 7,400 jobs and Idaho up by 3,700.
Arizona has seen a loss between February 2020 and August of this year of some 600 jobs; with Colorado down by 8,800 jobs.
In New Mexico, total construction employment has gone from 52,000 in February of last year, to 49, 100.
Despite those losses, in most of the states of the West construction employment was generally, if only marginally, up over the lowest recorded levels from the early summer of 2020.
In a statement, Ken Simonson, chief economist with the Associated General Contractors, said construction employment “slipped or stagnated from July to August in half the states as the Delta variant of Covid 19 affected workers and caused some owners to delay projects.”
Simonson added than half of the respondents in the AGC survey reported “experiencing projects that have been cancelled, postponed or scaled back.”
States in the West as of August also presented a best of times, worst of times picture, with South Dakota leading the nation in the number of new construction jobs at around 1,700; and Wyoming coming in dead last with an overall decline of 3,800 jobs.
By Garry Boulard
