ABC: Georgia is No. 1 State for Construction

For the first time, Georgia was named the top state for construction in Associated Builders and Contractors’ annual Merit Shop Scorecard. The scorecard, released yearly since 2015, ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on policies and programs that strengthen career pathways in construction, encourage workforce development and advocate for fair and open competition on taxpayer-funded construction projects.

Georgia’s construction industry continues to prosper, and it earned the top spot due to the state’s continued dedication to workforce development. This year, 99% of career and technical education students in the state earned a credential and/or continued to a career. Along with inclusive policies that welcome all of the construction industry to compete to build projects in their communities, Georgia’s construction employment continues to grow. Georgia claimed third in the 2022 rankings.

Florida followed Georgia in second in 2023. Since the inception of the rankings, Florida has placed in the Top 10 and continues to be a model state for the merit shop, exceling in the preservation of fair and open competition and creating a policy environment for the entire industry to succeed, especially in fostering a pipeline of highly skilled workers.

Among the top five, Arkansas ranked third, Wisconsin ranked fourth and Indiana ranked fifth. Rounding out the Top 10 states are Iowa, Kentucky, Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi, in order by rank.

Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin have returned to the Top 10 rankings this year. Indiana and Wisconsin have strong workforce development systems, seeing 99% and 92% respectively of the states’ career and technical education students earning a credential and/or continuing to a career. All three states have innovative and proactive approaches to upskilling, leading to a sustained, positive job growth rate in construction.

Notably, Wyoming climbed 10 spots to 20th. The state’s passage of the Fair and Open Competition Act in 2023 now protects local workers against government-mandated project labor agreements on state and local projects, as the Biden administration and union advocates press the use of PLAs on federally assisted projects. In Wyoming, PLAs would shut out 96% of the construction industry from bidding and working on public projects.

The bottom five states, in ranking order, included Hawaii, Rhode Island, New York, the District of Columbia and Washington, each receiving poor ratings in creating conditions and policies for merit shop contractors to thrive.

The 2023 Building America: The Merit Shop Scorecard rates state laws, programs, policies and statistics in seven categories: project labor agreements, prevailing wage laws, right-to-work laws, public-private partnerships, workforce development, career and technical education and job growth rate.