According to the National Association of Home Builders, construction jobs were up 3% year-over-year nationally in May, well above the 1.6% growth in total non-farm employment.
In the construction sector specifically, which includes both residential and non-residential construction, across the 48 states which reported construction sector jobs data, 38 states had an increase in May, nine states reported a decline, and Kansas remained unchanged compared to April. The total construction industry gained 4,000 jobs in May. California added 12,800 jobs, the highest gains in construction employees while New York lost 5,500 workers during this time.
Year-over-year, the U.S added 215,000 construction sector jobs which is a 3.0% increase compared to May 2018. Texas added 35,200, which was the largest gains of any state while Louisiana lost 9,100, which was the largest decline of any state. In percentage terms, West Virginia had the highest annual growth in construction sector by 26.5%. Over this period, Louisiana reported the largest decline at 6.0%.
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