AGC: Utica-Rome lost 900 construction jobs since 2007

Utica-Rome construction employment has declined by 24 percent since peaking in 2007, according to information released Feb. 14 by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) at a press conference in Syracuse.

In December 2007, the region had 3,800 people working in the industry, according to a new AGC analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

The Utica-Rome area has lost 900 construction jobs since then — and 300 of those job losses came between December 2010 and December 2011. The area now has 2,900 construction jobs.

Utica-Rome experienced peak levels of construction employment nearly 20 years later than several other upstate cities, according to AGC. Binghamton, Buffalo-Niagara Falls, Ithaca, and Syracuse all had their highest number of construction employees in 1990, the trade group found.

Binghamton peaked at 4,600 construction workers in 1990 and had 3,700 in December 2011. Buffalo-Niagara Falls had 21,200 construction employees in 1990 and 20,900 at the end of last year, while Ithaca had 1,500 construction workers in 1990 and now has 1,200.

Meanwhile, Syracuse had 14,600 construction workers as of 1990, but only 11,500 in December 2011.

“Sadly, Syracuse and much of New York have not been immune from the years-long construction downturn that cost so many skilled workers their jobs,” AGC Chief Economist Kenneth Simonson said at the Feb. 14 news conference that the construction-industry trade association held at Milton CAT at 336 Ainsley Drive in Syracuse.

Construction employment is down across the country, Simonson said. Nationally, 329 of 337 metropolitan areas are currently below their peak construction employment levels, he added.

Simonson spoke in Syracuse as AGC is pushing for Congress to pass a multiyear surface transportation bill to fund highway and transit projects throughout the country. Legislators have been passing short-term transit-funding extenders for two-and-a-half years, he said.

A long-term bill would allow state and local officials to start work on infrastructure, which would lead to more construction jobs, Simonson said. Not having such legislation is holding back major projects, he added.

“It makes it hard to do long-term planning and actual construction of major projects,” Simonson said.