A new National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) construction employment analysis shows 9.8 million people worked in construction in 2016, and more than 3.8 million of them worked in residential construction, according to www.forconstructionpros.com. Although the numbers reflect steady job gains since 2011, employment levels remain below the peaks reached during the housing boom in 2006, when more than 11 million people worked in construction and more than 5 million people worked in residential construction.
"While it is promising to see that residential construction employment is on the rise, it is still far below where we need to be to meet the increasing demand for housing," says NAHB Chairman Randy Noel. "We will continue to push for programs and policies that address the labor shortage, such as workforce development initiatives and comprehensive immigration reform."
California is the top employer of residential construction workers, with more than half a million residents working in homebuilding in 2016; however, this still is significantly below the 2006 peak of 788,000. Additionally, despite being one of the states most severely affected by the housing downturn, Florida comes in second with 361,000 residential construction workers.
New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona, were among the states hit hardest by the housing downturn and show job losses of 46 percent, 43 percent and 41 percent, respectively, compared with 2006. Still, homebuilding in Nevada and Arizona continues to employ a relatively high share of local workers—more than 3 percent of the employed labor force.
