91视频

Despite rises in building activity, more than one in three American metropolitan areas saw job losses in construction in 2016. Now industry leaders are calling on President Donald Trump to deliver on bold promises to address those losses through infrastructure spending.

Associated General Contractors analyzed new federal to find that construction employment fell in 110 of 358 metro areas last year. The ones that were hit the hardest suffered from a slowdown in fossil fuel extraction. Wichita, Kansas, lost around 2,100 construction jobs, and Casper, Wyoming, lost 400.

The area with the biggest increase was Boise City, Idaho, followed by El Centro, California, and the Las Vegas, Orlando, Florida and Nashville, Tennessee areas. Two Pacific Northwest metro areas made the top 10 鈥� Albany and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro.

Construction employment in the Portland area grew 12 percent, by 5,400 jobs, from 55,000 to 61,400.

In response to the job losses, Associated General Contractors issued a statement calling on Trump to live up to pledges to push through around $1 trillion in funding for infrastructure projects.

鈥淚n some markets, the solution is more workforce development measures, while other markets need new demand for construction before firms will begin adding jobs,鈥� AGC economist Ken Simonson said. 鈥淚n particular, spending on critical transportation, sewage and water infrastructure declined last year.鈥�

A recently-published 鈥淧riority List鈥� of 50 infrastructure projects eyed by the president includes none in Oregon, and no mention of his proposed wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.