The $4.2 billion BP Whiting Refinery modernization project employed as many as 14,000 skilled craftsman at its peak. But now the project is complete, and construction workers in the region have lucked out as the commercial construction industry in the region has rebounded to pre-recession levels. The region has six major industrial developments totaling over 800,000 square feet currently underway, which is the most construction activity since 2008.
Even so, Northwest Indiana lost 2,800 jobs in the construction industry in 2014 largely because of the BP project's completion. However, the region is optimistic that construction activity will continue to increase.
(more on NW Indiana's construction industry activity after the BP project...)
