PROVIDENCE – Construction employment in Rhode Island declined 7% year over year in September, the 12th-fastest rate of decline in the nation, according to the Associated General Contractors of America Tuesday.
Total employment in the sector was 18,600 in the state, marking a 1.6% increase month to month.
“New spikes in coronavirus cases, along with ongoing pandemic-related costs and revenue losses, are causing ever more private owners, developers and public agencies to delay and cancel projects,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, in a statement. “Although single-family homebuilding is gathering steam, multifamily and nonresidential construction activity has stalled, leaving large numbers of workers at risk of losing their jobs as current projects finish up with nothing on the horizon.”
Rhode Island had the third-fastest rate of decline in construction employment in New England.
New England construction employment in September:
- Maine: Employment increased 1% year over year to 30,300, ranking No. 13 for fastest rate of increase in the nation.
- New Hampshire: Employment declined 2.5% year over year to 27,400, ranking No. 25 in the country.
- Connecticut: Employment declined 3.9% year over year to 57,100, ranking No. 27 in the nation.
- Massachusetts: Employment declined 11.8% year over year to 143,900, the third-fastest rate of decline year over year in the U.S.
- Vermont: Employment declined 27% year over year to 11,100, ranking as the fastest decline in the nation.
