June not seasonally adjusted (NSA) construction unemployment rates improved in 47 states and the nation on a year-over-year basis according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis. The national construction unemployment rate of 4.6% was 1.7% lower than a year ago according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Further, the industry boasted its lowest June rate since 2000 when it matched this June’s 4.6% rate. BLS data also showed that the industry employed 229,000 more people than in June 2015.
“The drop in the construction unemployment rate from June 2015 extends the uninterrupted monthly sequence 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. “Starting in 2000, when the BLS data for this series begins, the June national NSA construction unemployment rate has fallen from May every year except 2010 when it was unchanged. This is not surprising given that this is not seasonally adjusted data and that construction activity normally continues to rise nationwide as the weather improves throughout the country. This year’s decrease of 0.6% from May continues this pattern.”
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%. For the second month in a row, all states had construction unemployment rates under 10%. 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)
5. Nebraska
Three states — Iowa, Nebraska and Vermont — were also among the top five in May. Vermont, with a 1.9% 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% rate, its lowest June rate since 2001. Idaho and Iowa tied with the third lowest rate in June, each with 2.4%, down from 3.2% and 3.5% 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% in May to 2.5% 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% is the state’s lowest June rate since 2008’s 7.9% rate. New Mexico tied with West Virginia for the largest year-over-year drop in construction unemployment rates, down 3.3%, but still had the second highest estimated rate at 7.6%.
Rhode Island had the third highest rate at 7.3%. Nonetheless, the state has seen steady improvement in its construction unemployment rate and its 1.7% decrease from May was the second largest drop among the states. Connecticut had the fourth highest estimated construction unemployment rate at 6.9% while Mississippi was fifth highest at 6.8%.
Although both Connecticut and Mississippi had year-over-year declines in their rates — down 0.8% and 1.3%, respectively — they were two of the four states whose rate increased from May.
