Construction employment rates rose above February 2020 levels in 217—or 61%—of metro areas in April, and remained stagnant in another 34 metro areas, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. However, 30% of metro areas—107—saw construction employment declines in April compared with February 2020.
Project delays caused by the pandemic are continuing to undermine employment rates, according to AGC, as are material price spikes and shortages.
“It is disturbing to see that nearly one-third of the nation’s metro areas had lower construction employment totals in the mild weather and strongly rebounding economy of April 2021 than in the winter of 2020,” AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson said in a statement. “Ever-growing supply-chain bottlenecks and record prices for numerous construction materials threaten to further chill demand for job gains in many metros.”
The largest decline in construction jobs over the 14-month period was in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas, area, which was down 29,300 jobs, a 12% decline.
The most construction jobs added during that time period was in Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind., which added 7,900 construction jobs, a 15% increase.
