Construction-industry employment increased in the Charlotte are during the year ended in November.
The Charlotte area was a bright spot for construction-industry employment in the Carolinas over the past year, according to a report released by the Associated General Contractors of America.
The number of construction, mining and logging jobs in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metro increased 2 percent in the 12 months that ended in November, with 700 workers added to payrolls during that time, the report shows. The area’s total employment in the sector stood at 39,300 as of November.
However, the rest of the Carolinas continued to look for recovery.
In North Carolina, employment in the construction, mining and logging industries totaled 185,400 in November, down 5,200 jobs or 3 percent from November 2011. The same sector in South Carolina lost 700 jobs, or 1 percent of its work force, for a total of 79,100 industry workers at the end of the period. Each of the individual metro areas in the Carolinas that were listed in the report lost jobs during the year, with the exception of Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, which remained flat, and Charlotte.
Nationwide, construction employment declined in 151 of 337 metro areas between November 2011 and the same month of last year, according to the AGC. Such employment increased in 126 metro areas and was stagnant in 60, the AGC says.
“The uncertainty about 2013 federal tax and spending rates likely prompted firms in many parts of the country to hold back on hiring,” the association’s chief economist, Ken Simonson, says in the report. “Construction workers in the New York area, meanwhile, suffered as existing projects were put on hold in the weeks following Hurricane Sandy.”
Jen Wilson coordinates the Charlotte Business Journal's online operations, chronicles local events for CBJ Seen and takes photographs.
