June Construction Unemployment Rates Improve in 47 States from 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – June not seasonally adjusted construction unemployment rates improved in 47 states and the nation on a year-over-year basis according to an analysis recently released by Associated Builders and Contractors. The national construction unemployment rate of 4.6 percent was 1.7 percent lower than a year ago according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Further, the industry boasted its lowest June rate since 2000 when it matched this June’s 4.6 percent rate. BLS data also showed that the industry employed 229,000 more people than in June 2015.

Four states—Connecticut, Hawaii, Mississippi and Wyoming—posted an increase in their estimated construction unemployment rate from May (Hawaii’s rate includes mining and logging in addition to construction). Three states—North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming—saw their construction unemployment rate increase from June a year ago. Both Wyoming’s monthly and year-over-year increases were small, up 0.1 percent. For the second month in a row, all states had construction unemployment rates under 10 percent. The last time that occurred in June was in 2005.

View states ranked by their construction unemployment rate, their year-over-year improvement in construction employment and monthly improvement in construction employment.

Top Five States
The five states with the lowest estimated NSA construction unemployment rates in order from lowest rate to highest were:

1. Vermont
2. Colorado
3. Idaho and Iowa (tie)
4. Nebraska

Three states—Iowa, Nebraska and Vermont—were also among the top five in May. Vermont, with a 1.9 percent construction unemployment rate, had the lowest rate among the states in June. The state also had the lowest rate in May based on revised data. Colorado improved from seventh lowest rate in May to second lowest in June with a 2.3 percent rate, its lowest June rate since 2001. Idaho and Iowa tied with the third lowest rate in June, each with 2.4 percent, down from 3.2 percent and 3.5 percent in June 2015, respectively. Nebraska slipped from fourth lowest rate in May based on revised data to fifth in June, although its rate dropped from three percent in May to 2.5 percent in June.

Bottom Five States
The five states with the highest estimated NSA construction unemployment rates (from lowest to highest) were:

46. Mississippi
47. Connecticut
48. Rhode Island
49. New Mexico
50. Alabama

Alabama, New Mexico and Rhode Island were also in the bottom five in May. Alabama’s highest-in-the-country construction unemployment rate of 8 percent is the state’s lowest June rate since 2008’s 7.9 percent rate. New Mexico tied with West Virginia for the largest year-over-year drop in construction unemployment rates, down 3.3 percent, but still had the second highest estimated rate at 7.6 percent.

Rhode Island had the third highest rate at 7.3 percent. Nonetheless, the state has seen steady improvement in its construction unemployment rate and its 1.7 percent decrease from May was the second largest drop among the states. Connecticut had the fourth highest estimated construction unemployment rate at 6.9 percent while Mississippi was fifth highest at 6.8 percent. Although both Connecticut and Mississippi had year-over-year declines in their rates—down 0.8 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively—they were two of the four states whose rate increased from May.