PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked No. 28 in the nation for 12-month growth in construction employment in February with a 2.1 percent gain, according to the Associated General Contractors of America Friday.
Construction employment in the Ocean State rose 400 jobs year over year to 19,200, seasonally adjusted.
West Virginia ranked No. 1 for its year-over-year construction employment growth rate of 14.3 percent.
Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs year over year in February.
“The construction industry continues to add employees in most of the nation, despite a shortage of workers with construction experience,” said AGCA chief economist Ken Simonson in a statement. “But job openings are growing, as contractors encounter a shrinking pool of experienced jobseekers.”
Rhode Island ranked No. 3 among New England States for its February employment growth behind Massachusetts at No. 9 and New Hampshire at No. 19 in the United States.
Rhode Island ranked ahead of Vermont, which ranked No. 37, Connecticut, which ranked No. 38 (and lost 100 construction jobs over the year) and Maine, which ranked No. 40 in the nation with a 200-job loss.
Rhode Island ranked No. 21 in January and No. 2 in the nation in December for construction growth year over year.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
