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Construction Jobs Grow in Ohio

photo of construction equipment
Stockr
/
Shutterstock
The Ohio Department of Transportation has a major road construction project planned for this summer

Construction was among the industries that saw the most job growth in Ohio last year. That's according to state employment data published today by the U-S Labor Department. 

When it comes to Ohio industries, manufacturing gets a lot of the attention. And those jobs did grow by about 1.5 percent.

Graph of growth in construction jobs
Credit BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
/
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Growth in construction jobs

But the star of the latest Labor Department numbers is the construction industry. It grew by about 7,000 jobs, or about 3.3 percent. That increase was driven in large part by pent up demand for both commercial and residential real estate. And according to a survey by The Associated General Contractors of America, builders are expecting 2018 to be even better, because of the strong economy and calls by politicians to boost infrastructure spending.

Other industries that saw job gains in 2017 include hospitality, finance, and insurance. Still, things weren't so rosy for the state's mining and logging industries, which shed about 5.5 percent of their workforce last year.