All 50 states had a construction unemployment rate below 10% in September, and Maryland posted its lowest September rate on record, ABC reported.
The national not seasonally adjusted construction unemployment rate was 3.5% in September, down 0.3% from a year earlier, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) state by state analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released October 30.
All but Alaska, Minnesota and North Dakota had rates below 6%. Payroll construction employment, not seasonally adjusted, was 103,000 higher than in September 2025. Seasonally adjusted employment reached 8.4 million, 9.9% above its prepandemic peak of 7.6 million.
Maryland led at 1.7%, followed by North Carolina at 1.8% and Georgia and Tennessee at 2.1%. North Dakota had the highest rate at 9.5%.
From August, the national rate rose 0.4%, and 44 states posted higher rates.
“The construction industry is facing increased energy prices, materials prices and labor costs, while longstanding issues of higher insurance premiums, tariffs on building materials, shortages of skilled labor and rising interest rates continue to plague the industry,” said Bernard Markstein, president and chief economist of Markstein Advisors, who conducted the analysis for ABC.
“Data center construction is also absorbing a significant share of available skilled labor and contributing to elevated building materials prices,” Markstein said.