State Level Employment Situation: March 2024

Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 44 states in March compared to the previous month, while six states and the District of Columbia saw a decrease. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 303,000 in March, following a gain of 270,000 jobs in February.

On a month-over-month basis, employment data was most favorable in California, which added 28,300 jobs, followed by New York (+23,900), and then Texas (+19,100). A total of 4,700 jobs were lost across six states and the District of Columbia, with West Virginia reporting the steepest job losses at 2,000. In percentage terms, employment in Arkansas increased the highest at 0.5%, while West Virginia saw the biggest decline at 0.3% between February and March.

Year-over-year ending in March, 2.9 million jobs have been added to the labor market. Except for Oregon, all other states and the District of Columbia added jobs compared to a year ago. The range of job gains spanned from 500 jobs in Louisiana to 270,700 jobs in Texas. Conversely, Oregon lost a total of 1,900 jobs on a year-over-year basis. In percentage terms, Idaho reported the highest increase at 3.7%, while Oregon showed the largest decrease at 0.1% compared to a year ago.

Across the nation, construction sector jobs data[1]—which includes both residential and non-residential construction— showed that 36 states and the District of Columbia reported an increase in March compared to February, while 13 states lost construction sector jobs. The one remaining state, Rhode Island, reported no change on a month-over-month basis. New York, with the highest increase, added 9,500 construction jobs, while Oregon, on the other end of the spectrum, lost 2,300 jobs. Overall, the construction industry added a net 39,000 jobs in March compared to the previous month. In percentage terms, New York reported the highest increase at 2.5% and Oregon reported the largest decline at 2.0%.

Year-over-year, construction sector jobs in the U.S. increased by 270,000, which is a 3.4% increase compared to the March 2023 level. California added 33,900 jobs, which was the largest gain of any state, while New York lost 9,700 construction sector jobs. In percentage terms, Alaska had the highest annual growth rate in the construction sector at 16.2%. Over this period, Washington reported the largest decline of 3.6%.

[1] For this analysis, BLS combined employment totals for mining, logging, and construction are treated as construction employment for the District of Columbia, Delaware, and Hawaii.