Employment Up in 20 States, 120 Metro Areas

Nancy Anderson
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The construction industry is seeing some growth nearing the end of 2010, but as expected, it’s mostly in the non-residential sector. New documents released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show an increase in construction employment in 20 states between October and November, with the greatest number of new jobs created in the states of California, New Jersey, and New York. It’s important to note, however, that even though these numbers look promising, we must remember that California had the largest 12-month drop in construction jobs -- nearly 40,000 since this time last year.

Breaking down the employment trends into metropolitan areas, the report also shows that the greatest number of job losses were in Chicago, IL, with almost 15,000 construction jobs lost going into November 2010. Las Vegas, NV, also lost over 13,000 jobs in the construction sector. Of the 337 metropolitan areas for which the Bureau tracks statistics, however, 120 of them showed gains in construction employment numbers. Leading the pack were Phoenix, AZ (with 3300 jobs) and Nassau-Suffolk, NY, and Pittsburgh, PA (both with just over 2000).

The recently passed bill extending prior tax cuts may have played some part in allowing larger companies to continue hiring, but without the infrastructure funding bills the industry has been waiting on, 2011 is still looking rather uncertain for construction.



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Mike Wrightly is mostly diesel fumes and duct tape; he grew up around heavy equipment, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering.
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