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Work is slowing at Intel‘s D1X facility and it is having an effect on at least one segment of the construction industry.

“There has been a reduction in force at Intel,” said Frank Wall, executive director at the Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Association of Oregon. “Most of the travelers that came into town to work there have headed out of town. The big ramp up is over. There won’t be the big phase that we had before.”

Thirty-two apprentices have been laid off from the Intel job site in the last couple of weeks, Wall said. The union has decided to stop accepting new apprentices until work picks up, Wall said.

“That’s one of my gauges,” Wall said. “No one is asking for apprentices. That’s the first time in a couple of years that has happened.”

Building and wall equipment contractors had been expecting an Intel drawdown to begin this summer. They anticipate a 22.4 percent drop in PMCA union hours in 2015, when construction of the D1X project will be completed, Wall said.

The laid-off apprentices will likely be moved to other places around the state where work is strengthening, such as Central Oregon, he said.

“When apprentices were out of work in Central Oregon, they came to Portland to work,” he said. “Now, it’s the reverse. We’ll see if they’ll move and relocate where the work is.”

Building equipment contractors, which include PMCA members, had largely fueled the ramp up in construction employment, lost 300 non-seasonally adjusted jobs in June, according to an Oregon Employment Department issued last week.

Overall, the construction industry dropped 4.4 percent in June from 81,800 to 78,200 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis. Building equipment contractors accounted for roughly 25 percent of the losses, according to David Cooke, an economist with the department.