The Wisconsin construction industry shed 10,200 jobs in the past year, second worst in the country during that period, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Associated General Contractors of America.
Wisconsin, which ranked ahead of only Alaska among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of net gain or loss, also shed 1,000 construction jobs from May to June of 2012. The size of the industry’s workforce in the state now stands at 82,000.
Nationwide, construction employment increased in just half the states plus the District of Columbia from June 2011 to June 2012, but declined in a slim majority of states in the past month.
“The latest state data show again how fragile and fragmentary the construction recovery is,” said Ken Simonson, the AGCA’s chief economist. “Although private sector demand for structures has risen in most states, improvement in single-family homebuilding is spotty and public investment is shrinking.”
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