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A Miami-Dade construction boom is propelling employment gains in a rapid growth not seen across the rest of Florida or the nation as contractors struggle to find qualified workers.
The construction cranes on Miami’s skyline paint vivid pictures of the county’s 8.2% annual gain in construction jobs that has set construction employment records for five consecutive months as the industry now employs 63,400 workers in Miami-Dade, the most ever.
Meanwhile, however, Florida as a whole gained just 1.1% in construction jobs over the past year and actually lost 1,600 construction positions from May to June, as construction jobs declined in 26 states during the month.
Over the past decade, though, the number of construction workers on the job in Miami-Dade has risen from 40,200 in June 2015 to the current 63,200.
Miami-Dade’s rapid gains in construction jobs are in sharp contrast to other sectors of the local economy.
While no sector in Miami-Dade had actual declines in jobs over the past year, the only other strong gain was 2.6% added jobs in the broad area including education and health services, according to figures released last week by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Miami-Dade tallied 2.4% unemployment in June, an improvement from 2.7% jobless in both April and May. The last time unemployment in the county was as low as 2.4% was in January.
But over this year construction has been the star. In each of the past five months it has set an all-time employment record that the following month quickly eclipsed – 61,600 jobs in February, 61,800 in March, 62,400 in April, 63,200 in May, then 63,400 in June.
Across the nation, construction employment increased by 15,000 jobs in June as rising wages enabled the industry to add workers more rapidly than in other sectors, according to an analysis of data the Associated General Contractors of American released this month.
The association said construction firms are eager to add more workers despite uncertainties about tariffs and the policies that could see undocumented workers facing deportations to other nations.
“Today’s construction employment numbers show firms are eager to find and hire workers even amid broader market uncertainty,” said Macrina Wilkens, senior research analyst for the Associated General Contractors, in a July 3 written statement. “Hiring is holding up better than expected … as persistent labor shortages prompt firms to hire when they can.”
Nationally, 8,324,000 people worked in construction in June, 15,000 more than in May.
Pay for construction work is rising as the shortage of workers is met with rising compensation. The average hourly earnings nationally for production and nonsupervisory construction work rose 4.6% over the past year to $37.20, the Associated General Contractors said, ahead of the 3.9% overall rise in pay for such workers nationally.
But rising pay levels are battling a tightened construction workforce.
“For the first time since April 2024, construction employment slipped in a majority of states as aggressive deportation measures and a tightening of legal immigration have made it harder to fill construction job openings,” Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, said last week in a written statement. “Without access to qualified workers, contractors will have trouble delivering vitally [needed] advanced manufacturing, infrastructure, power and data center projects.”
