D-FW Topped the Country in New Construction Jobs in 2018
North Texas had the largest gain in construction employment in the country last year, adding more than 22,000 jobs in the sector. Houston was second, with a 19,400-job increase in total construction employment in 2018, according to a new report from the Associated General Contractors of America. "Construction employment continued to expand in most parts of the country in 2018 as demand for many types of construction projects grew," Ken Simonson, the contractors association's chief economist, said in the report. "As welcome as the job gains were, many firms would likely have added even more workers if labor market conditions were not so tight.
"There were 278,000 job openings in construction at the end of November, a record for the month, so it's likely that more metro areas would have had job gains in December if contractors had been able to find qualified workers," Simonson said.
Construction employment grew in 273 out of 358 metro areas between December 2017 and December 2018, according to the industry survey. Along with Texas' two big city markets, other top construction employment markets included Phoenix (16,200 jobs), Orlando (11,400 jobs) and Atlanta (10,700)...
