Fewer than half of America’s metro areas added construction jobs over the past year. That’s the headline number from AGC’s analysis of new Bureau of Labor Statistics data, released July 29, and it’s a harder read than the national employment figure suggests.
Employment rose in 165 of 360 metros between June 2025 and June 2026. It declined in 131 and was flat in 64.
Where the jobs went, and where they left
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands led on volume, up 15,000 jobs or 6%. St. Louis followed at 12,600 and a striking 16%. Baton Rouge added 10,200 for the largest percentage gain in the country at 22%. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington was up 8,200, Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia up 7,600.
The losses cluster differently. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario shed 5,300 jobs, down 5%. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro lost 5,100, down 6%. The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell division was down 4,300, Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley down 4,100, Pittsburgh down 3,800 — all at 4% to 6%. Lawton, Oklahoma posted the steepest percentage drop at 12%.
Read the two lists together and a pattern emerges: Gulf industrial corridors and Midwest metros with active megaproject pipelines are hiring, while high-cost West Coast and Northeast markets are not.
AGC’s four asks
Chief economist Ken Simonson named the drags: “Resistance to new data centers, uncertainty about future federal transportation funding, the loss of workers involved in the Temporary Protected Status program and volatile materials prices are all making it hard for firms in many parts of the country to add workers.”
He didn’t leave much room for optimism: “Unless they are quickly resolved, those market uncertainties will likely lead to restrained hiring for the foreseeable future.”
Chief executive officer Jeffrey D. Shoaf turned that into a policy list: “Just as politics is creating market uncertainties that limit hiring, there are policy steps federal officials should take that will help. Passing the highway and transit bill, expanding the lawful workforce, dispelling data center misinformation and resolving trade disputes will help create more positive market conditions for construction employers.”
The transportation deadline is the concrete one. The current authorization expires at the end of September. Every state DOT letting schedule and every heavy-civil contractor’s 2027 backlog assumption runs through whether Congress replaces it. Projects like the state-funded corridor work already under contract are insulated; the ones still in design are not.