Construction employment declined in 111 out of 337 metropolitan
areas between January 2011 and January 2012, according to the AGC. The
Associated General Contractors of America also reported that
employment increased in 169 cities and stayed level in 57.
“The
mixed construction employment results reflect the conflict between slowly
rebounding private sector demand for construction and declining public sector
investments,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “For every
metro area that is adding construction jobs, there is another one where
construction employment continues to fall or is stagnant.”
The
largest job losses were in the Florida cities
of Tampa, St. Petersburg,
and Clearwater.
Atlantic City and Hammonton, N.J.,
added the highest percentage of new construction jobs during the
period.
Association officials said that the construction
employment numbers would have been much better if Washington wasn’t years late
in passing a number of key infrastructure measures to fund highway, transit,
water and utility maintenance and upgrades.
“What makes
these jobs figures so frustrating is that they could, and should, have been
much better,” said the association’s chief executive officer, Stephen E.
Sandherr. “There is a growing sense among the broader business community that
the economy is being held back by Washington’s
failure to reach agreement on legislation everyone agrees is essential.”
