Denver area second nationally in construction employment declines

The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood Metropolitan Statistical Area experienced the nation’s second-largest decline in construction employment from July 2023 to July 2024, according to the Associated General Contractors of America, which released its findings Tuesday.

Construction employment declined over the year in 74 metro areas and was unchanged in 52 areas, according to the report. The largest job losses in numbers occurred in New York City (-9,100 jobs, -6 percent), followed by Denver-Aurora-Lakewood (-4,700 jobs, -4 percent).

Overall, construction employment increased in 232 of the 358 metro areas, according to the survey.

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas and Anchorage, Alaska, had the highest number and percentage of year-over-year job gains, respectively. New York City and Duluth, Minnesota experienced the biggest job losses by number and percentage, respectively.

The association’s findings are based on government employment data. Association officials noted that their latest workforce survey shows contractors are still eager to hire more employees but face difficulty finding qualified workers.

“It is heartening that nearly two-thirds of metro areas have added construction workers in the past year,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “But contractors’ struggles to fill open positions suggest many more metros would have job gains if there were enough qualified applicants available.”

Recapping the top five, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas led all metro areas in construction job increases year-over-year (11,700 jobs or 5 percent), followed by Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada (9,700 jobs, 12 percent); Baton Rouge, Louisiana (7,400 jobs, 16 percent); Northern Virginia (7,200 jobs, 9 percent); and Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Florida (6,400 jobs, 11 percent). The largest percentage gain — 19 percent — occurred in Anchorage, which added 2,400 jobs. The pickup in Anchorage was followed by 17 percent gains in Anniston-Oxford-Jacksonville, Alabama (200 jobs) and Danville, Illinois (100 jobs).

Construction employment declined over the year in 74 metro areas and was unchanged in 52 areas. Leading the decliners, after New York City and Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, were Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington (-4,200 jobs, -4 percent); Orange-Rockland-Westchester, New York (-3,100 jobs, -6 percent); and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California (-2,600 jobs, -5 percent). The largest percentage decrease occurred in Duluth, Minnesota-Wisconsin (-10 percent, -1,100 jobs), followed by 8 percent losses in Ithaca, New York, and Grants Pass, Oregon (-100 jobs each).

“This new data will give us a sense of how the construction labor market has evolved during the past year and what that means for the broader economy,” said Jeffrey D. Shoaf, the association’s chief executive officer. “The best way to fix workforce shortages in the construction industry is to start with a good understanding of where the pain points are, what is causing them, and how they impact firms’ ability to build projects.”