Dive Brief:
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Unemployment among construction workers fell below 10% in all 50 states in June for the first time since October, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors.
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A month earlier, Mississippi — which had the highest construction unemployment rate in June, at 9.9% — was the only state with unemployment in the sector greater than 10%.
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The states with the lowest construction unemployment in June were: South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Idaho and Montana. In addition to Mississippi, the states with the highest construction unemployment were Georgia, West Virginia, Rhode Island and New Mexico.
Dive Insight:
Although construction unemployment declined in 38 states between May and June, construction employment “stalled” in June, ABC reported in July.
Calling the June jobs report “a clunker,” ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said construction firms are creating fewer jobs, in part, because they can’t find workers to fill them.
Associated General Contractors of America reported last month that construction employment declined in half of states between May and June and in 127 metropolitan areas between June 2014 and June 2015.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the sector’s demand for employees is dropping, however. But it could mean that contractors will have to pay substantially more to compete with each other and with other industries for the workers who want construction jobs, Basu noted.