Eau Claire leads nation in adding construction jobs

The Eau Claire area added more construction jobs between February 2009 and the same month this year than any other metropolitan area in the country, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.

Only 10 of 337 metro areas added construction jobs during the period, according to the AGC, citing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Eau Claire added 600 construction jobs during the period, according to the AGC. Other areas adding jobs included El Paso, Texas, 400; the Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury area in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 300; Syracuse, N.Y., 300; and Lafayette, La., 200.

But those gains are tiny when considering some of the biggest losers. The metro area that lost the most construction jobs during the year was Houston, which lost 25,500, according to the AGC. Other areas losing the most construction positions included Chicago, 25,200; Los Angeles, 23,000; Las Vegas, 22,900; and Phoenix, 20,600.