Wisconsin Sets Record High for the Number of Construction Jobs in the State

Wednesday, March 13th, 2024 -- 3:00 PM

(Joe Schulz, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin set a new record high for the number of construction jobs in the state, reaching that milestone in January months before the construction season typically begins.

According to Joe Schulz with Wisconsin Public Radio, aata released Thursday by the state Department of Workforce Development showed the construction industry added 1,900 workers in the first month of the year. That brought the state to a record high 140,000 construction trade jobs.

Wisconsin’s typical construction season runs from April through November. Economists, the state builders association and construction unions said the industry’s job growth could be tied to several factors.

They cited Wisconsin’s unseasonably warm winter, stabilizing interest rates, a national construction boom and federal investments in the state’s infrastructure. Experts expect the momentum in the construction sector to continue, especially if interest rates come down and home building becomes more affordable.

Menzie Chinn, a macroeconomist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the rise in state construction employment may be tied to a larger national construction boom.

In January, construction spending nationally totaled $2.1 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. That’s down 0.2 percent from the previous month but 11.7 percent higher than in the same month of 2023.

Construction employment nationally has been on a steady upward trend since May 2020, and it’s increased in each of the last three months, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Chinn said about one-fifth of the change in employment for January and February is tied to nonresidential construction.

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