Construction Jobs in the USA – Latest News
Associated General Contractors of America has just released data concerning construction employment in the U.S. in April. The news is encouraging – it turns out that 29 states gained construction jobs last month and there were 14,000 new jobs created nationwide. It seems that for the first time in 3 years, the industry is hiring. It is partly due to federal stimulus funds for infrastructure 
(American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) and also because of the gradual recovery of the housing market. April’s figures could also improve because of the season – spring is the time when many projects kick off. When it comes to publicly-funded investments, the most money went for transportation and water supply construction.
The highest monthly increase nationwide in construction employment from March to April was recorded by Kansas (+8.7%, 5,000 jobs), followed by North Dakota (+6.5%, 1,300 jobs), Wyoming (+6%, 1,300 jobs), Oklahoma (+4.4%, 2,900 jobs) and Massachusetts (+3.8%, 3,900 jobs).
Hopefully these recent gains are a good starting point. Unfortunately, the last 12 months were difficult for the industry with 46 states and the District of Columbia losing construction jobs. The worst situation is in California. 
There have been 400,000 lay-offs since the 2006 peak. The state lost some 1,900 construction jobs also in April, but this number is smaller than in March which may be a good sign. Other states where the industry suffered the most include: Nevada, Colorado, Vermont, Washington, Idaho, Texas and Florida. The unemployment rate in the construction industry is 21.8% which is more than twice the national average.
Experts warn that despite recent construction gains, the industry will not return to pre-recession levels fast. The Recovery Act is helpful, but there are many delays in passing infrastructure legislation and the housing market is still fragile. The industry representatives expect further public investments as they are the only chance in creating more jobs. For the time being tight credit and high vacancy rates restrict activity in the private sector.
This post was written by the team of PennySaverUSA.com. Visit them online to find construction jobs in the USA.
Though it’s great news hearing that construction jobs are up in 29 states, I thought that the addition of 14k jobs that month was due largely to the jobs created for the census? If so, hardly a real dent in the problem since those jobs aren’t permament.