S.C. metropolitan areas see slight growth in construction jobs

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Construction employment increased in 68% of metropolitan areas nationwide in the past year, including South Carolina, although slightly.

The Associated General Contractors of America released its evaluation of numbers gathered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The report says construction employment grew in 244 out of 358 metro areas between September 2018 and September 2019.

The Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas metro area added the most construction jobs during the past year, a total of 15,000 jobs. Other top areas showing growth over the year include Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.; Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas; and Nassau County-Suffolk County, N.Y.

The largest job losses in the 12-month period occurred in New York, at 3,600 jobs, followed by Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C.; Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, Ill.; and Baton Rouge, La.

In South Carolina, the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach area ranked 34th in percentage growth of jobs with an increase of 800 (8%). Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin ranked 66th with an increase of 1,100 jobs (6%), Charleston-North Charleston ranked 102nd with growth of 1,000 jobs (5%), Spartanburg (200 jobs, 3%) ranked 163rd and Columbia (400 jobs, 2%) ranked 195th.

Construction employment reached a new September high in 64 metro areas and a new September low in three areas.

“Even though construction firms in over two-thirds of the nation’s metro areas were able to add employees in the last year, our survey suggests employers in still more locations would have done so if they could find more qualified workers to hire,” said Ken Simonson, the AGC's chief economist.