Construction jobs in Rhode Island grow

Posted on February 21, 2015

Construction jobs in Rhode Island and other areas continue to show strong growth, according to an ADP report.

The ADP Workforce Vitality Index, which measures the total wages paid to the U.S. private sector workforce, was 106.7 in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Workforce vitality varies across industries. The strongest growth over the past year has been in Construction, 8.4%, thanks to a combination of strong employment growth, wage growth and an increase in hours worked.  Manufacturing WVI advanced by 6.3% due to growth in wages and employment in large companies with more than 1,000 workers.

The WVI in Leisure & Hospitality and Trade advanced just over 6%, due to solid gains in both wages and employment.  Financial service workers enjoyed strong wage growth of 5.9%, but experienced weak employment growth.

The weakest index growth has been in Professional/Business Services and the Education/Healthcare sector, mostly due to weak wage growth.

The WVI is growing most quickly for younger workers, those under 25 years of age.  During the past four quarters it grew by 8.6%.  The annual turnover rate for workers under 25 was 49% in 2014 compared to an average of 23% nationwide, indicating more opportunities in the labor market for this age group.

Wages for those in the under-25 group grew more than twice as fast as the wages of any other group.  On the other end of the spectrum, the 55+ segment was second in terms of WVI growth.

The index for these workers increased by 6.5%.  Wages increased by 2.3%, which was slightly lower than the wage growth of the two middle tiers. Workers 55+ showed stronger employment growth than the other age groups.

This may have been driven by a combination of workers crossing the 55 age threshold and older workers delaying retirement.