After finishing 2014 with employment at nearly a six-year high, hiring within the construction industry is expected to expand at an even faster rate in 2015, according to a new survey and forecast from the Associated General Contractors of America.
According to the survey, which solicited response from more than 900 construction firms in 48 states and the District of Columbia, a huge 80 percent of these firms said they plan on expanding their payrolls in 2015. The figure easily trumps that of last year’s survey when only 57 percent of contractors said they planned on hiring.
However, most of the responding firms only plan on making modest expansions. Of those firms that plan on hiring in 2015, 90 percent plan to expand their number of employees by a 25 percent or less.
Should these expectations pan out, Stephen E. Sandherr, CEO of the AGC, said construction employment could expand faster than it has since 2005.
The state with the highest percentage of respondents planning to make new hires was Virginia at 95 percent.
