There’s been a downturn in the construction industry nationwide, but not in Iowa.
Iowa saw an eight percent increase in construction jobs between August of 2014 and August of this year according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Eighty percent of those job gains were outside of the state’s major metropolitan areas, driven partly by the large Iowa Fertilizer Plant construction project in rural southeast Iowa.
There was just a two percent increase in construction jobs in the Des Moines metro and a one percent increase in the Cedar Rapids area. There was a small decrease in the Quad Cities. The Omaha/Council Bluffs metro saw a three percent increase in construction jobs.
Nationwide, employment in the construction industry declined between August of 2014 and August of this year. The Associated General Contractors of America group cites “growing uncertainty about federal funding for construction programs and growing shortages of qualified construction workers” as the main reasons.