A building boom led Miami-Dade to set another construction jobs record in July with 64,000 people working in the industry, a 4,500-job gain in 12 months, while the rest of Florida was actually losing 700 construction jobs.
Miami-Dade’s construction jobs gain was 7.6% over the 12 months while the statewide gain including the county was 0.6%, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Without the county’s growth, Florida construction jobs would have declined.
Nationally, construction jobs are in flux. They rose from June to July in 22 states and fell in 22, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. Miami-Dade gained 200 construction jobs in the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
“The number of states with construction job gains continues to slip, on both a monthly and year-over-year basis,” Ken Simonson, the contractors association chief economist, wrote. “Owners have delayed project starts in the face of ever-changing tariff, funding, and labor force policies, while contractors are experiencing sudden losses of workers,” a reference to immigration enforcement.
In July, Mr. Simonson noted that construction jobs slipped in the majority of states “as aggressive deportation measures and a tightening of legal immigration have made it harder to fill construction job openings.”
Officials of the association said last week that “private sector developers appear to be delaying or cancelling some projects amid uncertainty about construction costs and ongoing questions about future interest and tariff rates” encouraging trade agreements “that will provide more certainty about tariff rates.”
In Miami-Dade, however, July marked the sixth consecutive month in which total construction jobs set a local record, as they have continued to climb with the new buildings that the industry is creating in a community where the most visible bird has long been the construction crane.
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