Construction Employment Down in July

Fewer public builds in July brought down construction employment in 28 states, and 31 states have less construction jobs than one year ago.

Construction jobs declined in 28 states in July, according to a new report, and 31 states have shed jobs since July 2011.

According to the Associated General Contractors' (AGC) August 17 report analyzing Labor Department data, construction employment decreased in a majority of states as public construction funding continues to shrink, offsetting gains in homebuilding and nonresidential construction.

''Public construction cuts in particular are taking their toll on construction employment in many parts of the country,'' said Ken Simonson, the AGC's chief economist. ''With economic growth remaining sluggish, there is a chance construction employment will begin to slip in even more places.''

Simonson said that Alaska lost the highest percentage of construction jobs during the past year, (-15.0 percent, -2,200 jobs), followed by Mississippi (-10.8 percent, -5,300 jobs) and Arkansas (-10.4 percent, -4,900 jobs). Florida lost the most jobs (-16,900, -5.2 percent), followed by Illinois (-9,800, -5.0 percent) and Missouri (-9,500 jobs, -9.2 percent).

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs between July 2011 and July 2012, according to the report, while construction employment remained stagnant for the year in Hawaii. North Dakota added the highest percentage of new construction jobs (16.0 percent, 3,800 jobs), followed by D.C. (12.2 percent, 1,500 jobs) and Nebraska (10.0 percent, 4,100 jobs). California added the most new construction jobs over the past 12 months (27,300, 5.0 percent), followed by Texas (22,900, 4.1 percent) and Indiana (9,300, 7.8 percent)

The AGC report said that construction employment would likely continue to suffer from the impact of ongoing cuts to public construction budgets, and if economic growth slows as businesses worry about future tax uncertainty, private demand for construction could lag as well.

Click the links to view the state employment data by rank and by state.