March is Explore Construction Employment Month, where throughout the month career seekers can explore resources related to employment in Construction through CareerForce. Among these resources include information on upcoming job fairs and hiring events, career exploration opportunities and other training events. While these resources, fairs, events and training opportunities are highlighted during the month of March, they continue to be available throughout the calendar year.

Spring is the perfect time to begin exploring opportunities in Construction. Revisiting a past Local Look Blog, we discovered that the Construction industry sector typically witnesses a 15% seasonal bump in employment between the first and second quarters of the year. That's a lot of jobs, especially considering the Metro Area had about 85,500 Construction jobs during its peak in 2024. And these jobs range from Carpenters, Electricians and Plumbers, to Cost Estimators, Secretaries and Heavy & Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers and more.

Strictly looking at Construction & Extraction Occupations, the Metro Area had nearly 60,000 such jobs in 2024. Construction Laborers, with nearly 12,000 jobs, is the region's top employing construction occupation. The starting hourly wage for this occupation was around $23.62, with the median wage at $29.70. Employment in this occupation is anticipated to increase by 8.6% in the Metro Area between 2022 and 2032, with the projected number of net new and replacement openings at 7,360. For reference, total employment in Construction & Extraction Occupations is anticipated to grow by 6.5% between 2022 and 2032. This is faster than the anticipated growth for all occupations in the region, at 4.9% (Table 1).

Other top-employing construction occupations in the Metro Area include Carpenters; First-Line Supervisors of Construction & Extraction Workers; Electricians; and Plumbers, Pipefitters & Steamfitters. Median wages were highest among these top-employing construction occupations for First-Line Supervisors of Construction & Extraction Workers; Plumbers, Pipefitters & Steamfitters; Operating Engineers & Other Construction Equipment Operators; and Electricians. Projected growth rates are highest for Electricians; Highway Maintenance Workers; Operating Engineers & Other Construction Equipment Operators; and Construction Laborers.

Table 1 also reveals many of those occupations that, while not strictly construction trades occupations, are vital to the Construction industry sector. Check out DEED's labor market information tools and resources, as well as CareerForce resources, to learn more about the opportunities in this dynamic sector.

To discover more about Construction employment in the Twin Cities Metro Area, contact Tim O'Neill, Labor Market Analyst, at timothy.oneill@state.mn.us