Austin construction jobs down 5.8% over last year - Austin Business Journal:

ejyceh.wordpress.com
In Austin, construction jobs declined 5.8 percent to 45,50 0 between April 2008 and April 2009. Among the communitiesw seeing the largest declines in constructionn employmentwere Tucson, Ariz. with a 29.2 percenr decline and Redding, Calif. with a 31.6 percentr decline. By comparison, construction employment grew in only 19 of nearl 300metro areas, led by an 8 percentt gain in Odessa and a 7.3 percent increase in Baton Rouge, La. According to the AGC, the construction sectod has seen the largest decline in employment relative to the rest ofthe economy. While overall construction unemploymentt wasat 18.7 percent in Aprikl 2009, the overall unemploymenty rate was 8.6 percent.
So whilee construction accountsfor one-fifth of the U.S. workforce, constructio n workers account for 20 percent of all jobs lost in thepast “Job loss figures like these are exactly what prompted Congress and the Administration to craft a stimulus package designed to get Americans back to work as quicklg as possible,” said AGC Chief Ken Simonson. “Puttingy these funds to good use as quicklyh as possible is the best way to get Americansa back to work and the economgy backon track.
”