Mountain West Regions Top Lists for Residential Construction Employment
Construction industry employment reached a record high in 2023 at 11.4 million people. An estimated 4.7 million of those workers were in residential construction.
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), The rise in employment was a reflection of housing production, as the number of housing units under construction also peaked that year. Demand for housing and construction workers was strongest in the fast-growing states with a high prevalence of seasonal vacation homes.
Three states in the Mountain Division — Idaho, Montana and Utah — were at the top of the list with 5.5%, 5.1% and 4.9%, respectively, of the employed labor force working in home building. Vermont was next on the list with a share of 4.6%, followed by Florida with 4.4%.
Further analysis by NAHB examined residential construction employment by congressional district. Idaho’s 1st Congressional District topped the list with the highest share (6.4%) of residential construction workers in the employed labor force. Florida’s 17th district was a close second with 6.3% of the labor force employed in home building.
