Construction employment increased in 238 out of 358 metro areas from October 2023 to October 2024, as reported by the Associated General Contractors of America based on government data. Despite this growth, contractors are finding it difficult to fill positions even with competitive wages.
Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, stated, “While roughly two-thirds of metro areas have added construction workers in the past year, contractors would have hired more employees if there were enough qualified applicants.” He highlighted that contractors face challenges in filling vacancies despite offering wages above the average. In October, average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees in construction were $36.23 per hour, nearly 19 percent higher than the $30.48 hourly average for production workers across all private sectors.
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas saw the highest increase with 17,800 new jobs (8 percent), followed by Northern Virginia with 9,000 jobs (11 percent). Other notable increases occurred in Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev., Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla., and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, Hawaii experienced a significant percentage gain of 20 percent with an addition of 900 jobs.
Conversely, construction employment decreased in 73 metro areas and remained unchanged in 47 others. New York City experienced the largest job loss with a reduction of 11,300 jobs (-8 percent). Other areas facing declines included Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro and Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade.
Association officials attribute recruitment challenges to federal spending disparities favoring four-year college degrees over vocational training like construction careers. They urge lawmakers to address this gap through measures such as the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and increasing funding for the Carl D. Perkins Vocational & Technical Education Act.
Jeffrey D. Shoaf, CEO of the association remarked that “Relatively small boosts in federal funding for construction and other skills training will help put many more people into high-paying construction careers.”
