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Construction’s Contribution to U.S. Economy Highest in Seven Years

November 21, 2017

2016 CONSTRUCTION SPENDING: TOP FIVE STATES
The fastest growth was in the West and the South. The first state outside of those two regions in the ranking of construction growth rates is Rhode Island with the 16th largest increase (up 4.9 percent). In 2016, the top five states for the increase in their real value added from construction in order from highest to lowest were: 

1. Idaho, up 10.7 percent 
2. Georgia and South Carolina (tie), up 9.4 percent 
4. Florida, up 9.3 percent
5. Oregon, up 9.1 percent

Idaho had the highest percentage contribution from construction, even though state real GDP advanced a respectable, but more modest, 1.8 percent. Georgia slipped from its number-one ranking in 2015, while South Carolina made a significant jump from 17th to second place.

Florida’s ranking of number four is down from second place in 2015 when its real construction spending was 11.1 percent. Oregon saw a big improvement from 33rd place in 2015.

2016 CONSTRUCTION SPENDING: THE BOTTOM FIVE STATES
All of the bottom five states suffered from the effects of low energy prices.

46. Mississippi, down 2.5 percent 
47. West Virginia, down 7.5 percent
48. North Dakota, down 10.5 percent
49. Wyoming, down 11.5 percent
50. Alaska, down 13.2 percent

Alaska has struggled over the last few years. Not only did it experience the largest drop in real private construction spending in 2016, but it also experienced the second largest decrease in state GDP in the nation, down 5 percent. Real private construction spending has been down every year starting in 2011, except for 2015 (up 0.2 percent).

Although Wyoming improved its 2016 ranking—it had the largest decrease in 2015 at 6.6 percent—the 11.5 percent plunge was an acceleration of a bad outcome.  North Dakota had the third largest decline in its real private construction spending in 2016 and 2015, down 10.5 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively. However, the state’s growth in construction spending ranked in the top 10 from 2008 through 2014.

West Virginia had the fourth largest decline in its real private construction spending in 2016 and 2015, down 7.5 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively. Mississippi’s 2016 decrease represents a slowdown in the decline in construction from 2014 and 2015, when private construction activity fell 8.6 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively.

Read the full report here. 

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