Morrissey Goodale reports on states that are showing signs of employment growth for AE firms in the past year.
Focusing on long-term projections to current trends, there continues to be a strong labor market, despite unemployment inching up and expectations that jobs growth will slow and wage rises will weaken. This scenario supports the narrative that the Fed may lower rates later this year. However, due to higher-than-expected inflation, the likelihood of it happening in June is now lower.
According to February employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, states such as South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Arizona and Colorado had strong over-the-year employment growth in both percentage and numeric terms. The four top-10 lists below break down states based on numeric and percentage terms as well as overall and construction employment perspectives.
Top 10 states for overall employment percent growth (February 2024 vs. February 2023):
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Nevada
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Alaska
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South Carolina
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Idaho
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Florida
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South Dakota
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Texas
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Arizona
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Colorado
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Utah.
Top 10 states for overall employment numeric growth (February 2024 vs. February 2023):
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Texas
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Florida
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California
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New York
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New Jersey
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North Carolina
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Pennsylvania
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South Carolina
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Arizona
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Colorado.
Top 10 states for metropolitan area construction employment percent growth (December 2023 vs. December 2022):
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South Dakota
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New Mexico
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Arkansas
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Louisiana
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Kentucky
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Oklahoma
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Idaho
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Oregon
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Arizona
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Massachusetts.
Top 10 states for metropolitan area construction employment numeric growth (December 2023 vs. December 2022):
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California
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Texas
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Arizona
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Louisiana
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Ohio
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Massachusetts
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Oregon
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Pennsylvania
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Michigan
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Georgia.
For the latest insights on U.S. regions and AE markets, check out Morrissey Goodale’s 2024 AE Market Intelligence Webinar. Click here to access recording and materials.
