Construction employment on Long Island increased again in March, rising for the eighth straight month.
Nassau and Suffolk counties added 3,100 construction jobs from March 2022 to March 2023, a 4 percent year-over-year gain, rising from 76,800 to 79,900, according to a report from the Associated General Contractors of America.
Regionally, the number of construction jobs in New York City was up 4 percent, gaining 5,400 jobs from March 2022 to March 2023, increasing from 140,500 to 145,900.
Construction employment in the Orange/Rockland/Westchester area was up 8 percent, adding 3,600 jobs from March 2022 to March 2023 and rising from 42,600 to 46,200.
Between March 2022 to March 2023, construction employment rose in 259 metro areas, declined in 60 metro areas and remained flat in 39 areas, according to the AGCA report.
“The growth in manufacturing construction is helping offset softening demand for housing and other types of projects,” Stephen Sandherr, the association’s CEO, said in a AGCA statement. “The manufacturing boom is one of the key reasons construction firms in many parts of the country continue to hire new workers.”
Association officials noted many firms report they need even more workers but struggle to find enough qualified people to hire. They called on federal officials to boost investments in construction training and education programs to close the five-to-one gap in what the government spends to encourage students to go to college versus preparing them for careers in high-paying craft fields like construction.
“One of the biggest obstacles to hiring even more construction workers is the federal government’s enormous campaign to urge students to pursue office-based service sector jobs that require expensive four-year college degrees,” Sandherr said in the statement. “If the feds spent half as much encouraging students to pursue high-paying careers in fields like construction our industry would have more workers and young adults would have less college debt.”
Metro areas adding the most construction jobs over the last year include the Dallas area, which gained 11,300 jobs for a 7 percent rise; the Phoenix area, adding 8,900 jobs for a 6 percent boost; and the Las Vegas area, which added 7,000 jobs for a 9 percent gain.
The metro areas seeing the largest drops in construction employment from March 2022 to March 2023 include the Sacramento, Calif. area, which lost 6,800 jobs for a 9 percent drop; the Los Angeles area, which lost 6,600 jobs for a 4 percent drop; and the Pittsburgh area, which dropped 3,500 jobs for a 6 percent decline.
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