July Construction Unemployment Rate Lowest Since 2000

WASHINGTON, D.C., — In July, not seasonally adjusted construction unemployment rates improved in 43 states and the nation, adding 209,000 workers on a year-over-year basis, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data released by Associated Builders and Contractors. The national NSA construction unemployment rate of 4.5 percent was 1 percent lower than a year ago, the lowest July rate since 2000 when it was 4.4 percent.

“The drop in the construction unemployment rate from July 2015 adds yet another month to the unbroken monthly series of year-over-year rate decreases that started in October 2010,” said economist Bernard M. Markstein, Ph.D., president and chief economist of Markstein Advisors, who conducted the analysis for ABC. “The national NSA construction unemployment rate has fallen from June to July most years since 2000, when the BLS data for this series begins. Given that these are not seasonally adjusted data and that construction activity normally continues to rise nationwide in the summer months, this outcome is to be expected. This year’s decrease of 0.1 percent from June is no exception.”

For the third month in a row, the estimated construction unemployment rates for all the states were below 10 percent. The last time that happened was from June to August 2005.

Several states with low construction unemployment rates and rising construction employment experienced an uptick in their estimated construction unemployment rate from June. This is likely due to unemployed construction workers in other states moving to those states in search of employment. Also, some unemployed construction workers who dropped out of the workforce may have started searching for work, further boosting that state’s construction unemployment rate even in the face of rising construction employment.

The Top Five States
The five states with the lowest estimated NSA construction unemployment rates in order from lowest rate to highest were:
1.    Idaho
2.    Vermont
3.    North Dakota
4.    Colorado
5.    South Dakota

Three states—Colorado, Idaho and Vermont—were also among the top five in June. Idaho, with a 1.7 percent construction unemployment rate, had the lowest rate among the states in July. It was also the lowest Idaho July construction unemployment rate since the series began in 2000. Vermont slipped from lowest rate in May and June to second lowest rate in July with a 2 percent rate in spite of a slight rise from 1.9 percent in June. North Dakota had the third lowest rate in July, 2.1 percent, an improvement from 10th lowest in June. Colorado fell to the fourth lowest rate in July from second lowest in June with 2.2 percent, and South Dakota was fifth with 2.3 percent.

The Bottom Five States
The five states with the highest estimated NSA construction unemployment rates (from lowest to highest) were:
1.    Illinois and Louisiana (tie)
2.    Alabama
3.    Rhode Island
4.    New Mexico

Four of the five states with the highest construction unemployment rates in June were the same as in May—Alabama, Illinois, New Mexico and Rhode Island. At 7.8 percent, New Mexico had the highest estimated NSA construction unemployment rate in July, compared to second highest in June.

Rhode Island had the second highest construction unemployment rate in July, 7.2 percent, and Alabama had the third highest rate in July, 7 percent. Illinois and Louisiana had the fourth highest estimated NSA construction unemployment rate in July, 6.4 percent.