All but 6 States Post Unemployment Rates Below 10% in March
The national construction unemployment rate, not seasonally adjusted, was 6.7% in March, a 1.3% increase from March 2025, according to a state-by-state analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
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Analysis by the Associated Builders and Contractors found that only two states, Louisiana and Ohio, had lower estimated construction unemployment rates over the same period, four had the same rate and 44 had higher rates.
All but six states had construction unemployment rates below 10%.
In addition, construction input prices rose 1.7% in April compared to the previous month. Specifically, non-residential construction input prices rose 1.8% for the month.
ABC analysis shows that overall construction input prices are 7% higher than a year ago and non-residential construction prices are up 7.4%.
In April, prices increased in all three energy subcategories last month. Crude petroleum prices rose11.3%, while unprocessed energy materials and natural gas prices were up 9.2% and 4.9%, respectively.
“Construction input prices surged again in April,” said Anirban Basu, ABC chief economist. “Input prices have now risen more during the first four months of 2026 (6.2%) than over the prior three years (4.8%). While much of the recent rise can be traced to soaring oil prices, escalation was widespread in April, with tariff-affected materials like iron and steel posting particularly large price increases.”
He noted that in addition to the direct impact of this reemerging materials price escalation, too-hot inflation data coupled with upbeat labor market indicators suggest that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut rates this year.
“While contractors remain busy, according to ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator, these cost pressures will likely weigh on construction activity over the coming months,” Basu said.
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National NSA payroll construction employment was 58,000 higher than March 2025, its 12th straight month of year-over-year increases below 100,000. Seasonally adjusted payroll construction employment was 8.3 million, or 9.3% above its pre-pandemic peak of 7.6 million.
Estimated state construction unemployment rates were lower than their pre-pandemic (February 2020) level in 20 states. As of March 2026, 19 states had lower construction unemployment rates compared to March 2019, and 31 states had higher rates.
“The Iran war and resulting hike in energy prices are negatively affecting the construction industry, which was already struggling with insurance premium increases, escalating labor costs, shortages of skilled labor and elevated interest rates,” said Bernard Markstein, president and chief economist of Markstein Advisors, who conducted the analysis for ABC. “Consequently, some projects have been scaled back, put on hold or abandoned altogether. With slower construction activity, demand for construction workers is growing more slowly.”
In March, the national NSA construction unemployment rate declined 0.2% from February. Among the states, 28 had lower rates, 20 states came in with higher rates and two states (Kansas and Maine) had the same estimated construction unemployment rates as in February.
The Top States
The seven states with the lowest-estimated NSA construction unemployment rates for March were:
- Oklahoma, 2.8%
- South Dakota, 2.9%
- Tennessee, 3.4%
- New Hampshire, 3.5%
- Colorado, Hawaii and North Carolina (tie), 4.1%
South Dakota had its second-lowest March NSA estimated construction unemployment rate on record at 2.9%, behind last year’s 2.7% rate. Note that Hawaii’s unemployment rate is for construction plus mining and logging.
The Bottom States
The five states with the highest NSA construction unemployment rates in March were:
- New Mexico, 11.7%
- New Jersey, 12.9%
- Minnesota, 13.2%
- Connecticut, 14.8%
- Rhode Island, 16.2%
Rhode Island had the largest decline in its rate from February among the states, down 3.4%. Connecticut had the third-largest monthly decline, down 2.7%.
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