Construction employment makes steady gains, still below 2006 peak

Construction employment has posted five straight years of steady jobs gains but payrolls remain below peak levels hit during the housing boom, a new analysis released on Tuesday shows.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) construction employment report shows that 9.8 million people worked in construction in 2016, including more than 3.8 million in residential construction, which accounts for 2.5 percent of the total U.S. labor force.

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But that is 1.4 million fewer jobs than the 11 million workers — 5 million in home building — employed at the peak of the housing boom in 2006.

Construction employment bottomed out in 2011 but has gradually improved since then.

“While it is promising to see that residential construction employment is on the rise, it is still far below where we need to be to meet the increasing demand for housing,” said NAHB Chairman Randy Noel, a custom home builder from LaPlace, La.

“We will continue to push for programs and policies that address the labor shortage, such as workforce development initiatives and comprehensive immigration reform,” Noel said.

Construction employment has been more robust recently, adding 143,000 jobs over the past three months, according to the Labor Department’s figures. 

In 2016, California led the nation in the employment of residential construction workers at more than a half-million people, which is down from 788,000 in 2006. 

Florida’s housing market, which took a hard hit during the housing collapse, is second in the employment of residential construction workers at 361,000.

Residential construction workers in the Sunshine State accounted for 3.9 percent of state’s workforce, well above the national average of 2.5 percent, but a sharp drop from the 6.5 percent share in 2006. 

Many states hit hardest by the housing downturn, including New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona, are still running well behind their 2006 peak with job losses of 46, 43 and 41 percent, respectively.

NAHB’s analysis indicates that the average congressional district has more than 8,800 residents working in residential construction, but that number is often much higher.

For example, Montana’s single congressional district leads the nation with nearly 20,600 residents in home building.

Colorado’s 7th District, which incorporates parts of the Denver-Aurora metro area, and Florida’s 19th District, which is on the west coast from Fort Myers to Marco Island, is second and third with more than 18,000 employed in home building.