Construction employment in Kansas fell 3,400 over the past year to plunge the state to 49th in the nation, while all four neighboring states experienced growth in that sector by adding a combined 20,000 construction jobs to the economy, a federal report showed Saturday.
Employment in Kansas’ construction industry since May 2015 slipped 5.6 percent, according to analysis of a June report from the U.S. Department of Labor. The state’s percentage decline was surpassed only by hefty rollbacks in West Virginia and North Dakota.