Public Spending in Metro Areas Posts Strong Year-Over-Year Gains

Pedro Moura Pinheiro / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Federal employment data, analyzed by the Associated General Contractors (AGC), reveals that “construction employment expanded in 220 metro areas, declined in 70 and was stagnant in 49 between April 2013 and April 2014.” Some areas, such as Washington D.C. and New Jersey, are experiencing job losses mainly due to federal spending cuts and Hurricane Sandy.

The biggest increase in construction jobs occured in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA, followed by Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX and Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA. The largest percentage gains, on the other hand, were observed in El Centro, CA, followed by Steubenville-Weirton, OH-WV, Pascagoula, MS and Springfield, IL.

AGC officials think that the future of public construction is once again bright, as the federal government is once showing readiness to set aside resources for its aging infrastructure. A recent example is the Water Resources Reform & Development Act, passed just last week, which envisions more than $12 billion in water project and received bipartisan support. A new surface transportation bill is also in the making.

Read the full press release at AGC’s website.