The Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) released a state-by-state analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data that shows construction unemployment was down 4.6 percent in December 2021 compared to a year earlier.
The non-seasonally adjusted national rate dropped from 9.6 percent in December 2020 to 5 percent in December 2021. All 50 states had lower unemployment rates over the same period.
While not fully recovered to the pre-pandemic level, national NSA (National Subcontractor Alliance) employment was 163,000 jobs higher than in December 2020.
Seasonally adjusted construction employment was only 96,000 jobs (1.3 percent) below its February 2020 peak, just prior to the impacts of COVID-19. This is above the seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment, which was still 2.2 percent below February 2020 as of December 2021.
The national NSA construction unemployment rate of 5 percent was unchanged in December 2021 from its December 2019 reading. In that time, 34 states had lower construction unemployment and 16 states had higher rates.
Bernard Markstein, president and chief economist of Markstein Advisors, says the success the industry is seeing comes despite lingering concerns.
“The construction industry is making impressive progress despite continuing supply chain issues, which include extended delivery times and shortages of some building materials and appliances,” says Markstein, whose firm conducted the analysis for ABC. “Employers are also coping with difficulties finding skilled workers. The normal winter slowdown in construction activity is, at least temporarily, relieving some of the stress from those challenges.”
Monthly fluctuations
While year-to-year evaluations are typically the best barometer of national and state unemployment rates, ABC says month-to-month assessments give a better understanding of pandemic’s effect on construction employment due to the rapid changes caused by the virus.
Since the data series began in 2000, national NSA construction unemployment rates have always increased from November to December, ABC says. December 2021 continued that trend with a 0.3 percent increase.
Eleven states had lower estimated construction unemployment rates than November, 33 had higher rates and six states stayed the same.
State by state
According to ABC, the top five states with the lowest estimated NSA construction unemployment rates in December 2021 were Nebraska (1.3 percent), Indiana and Utah (1.5 percent each), Georgia (1.6 percent) and Oklahoma (2 percent).
All five states had their lowest December estimated NSA construction unemployment rate on record.
The five states with the highest estimated NSA construction unemployment in December were Alaska (10 percent), New York (9.5 percent), North Dakota (9 percent), Michigan (8.6 percent) and New Jersey (8.3 percent).
Alaska posted its lowest December estimated NSA construction unemployment rate on record.