All 50 states had construction unemployment below 10% in September, ABC says

The national rate was 0.3 percentage point lower than a year earlier, ABC said in its state-by-state review released Oct. 30. Only Alaska, Minnesota and North Dakota were above 6%. Construction payrolls held 103,000 more jobs than in September 2025, and the seasonally adjusted total reached 8.4 million, 9.9% above the pre-pandemic peak of 7.6 million.

Maryland's 1.7% was its lowest September rate on record. North Carolina came next at 1.8%, followed by Georgia and Tennessee at 2.1% and South Carolina and Utah at 2.2%. For North Carolina and Tennessee, those were the second-lowest readings on record. At the bottom of the list were North Dakota at 9.5%, Alaska at 7.5%, Minnesota at 6.7%, Michigan at 5.8% and Massachusetts at 5.5%.

Month to month the picture was weaker. The national rate rose 0.4 point from August, 44 states posted higher rates, four were lower, and Maryland and Oregon were unchanged. Against September 2019, 31 states were higher, 17 lower and two the same, although 39 states were below their February 2020 levels.

Bernard Markstein of Markstein Advisors, who ran the analysis for ABC, cited rising energy, materials and labor costs along with insurance premiums, tariffs on building materials and interest rates. He said data center construction is taking a large share of the available skilled labor and adding to materials prices.