Posted: 03/25/2012
Marcia Heroux Pounds, Sun Sentinel
Employment in Florida’s construction industry has been bad, but last year it got worse.
The state lost the most construction jobs, 20,700, of any state in the nation, bringing industry jobs in Florida down to 307,800 in January, according to an Associated General Contractors of America report. The peak was 687,200 in June 2006.
“We’re probably close to the bottom, if we haven’t reached it,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist.
The Fort Lauderdale area has been particularly hard-hit, with construction employment sinking to 26,200 — the lowest number recorded in January since 1992, he said. Metro area jobs fell by nearly 60 percent from peak employment of 61,200 in 2007.