Wisconsin is the Number 1 state for construction, according to Associated Builders and Contractors’ Merit Shop Scorecard. Now in its 10th year, the scorecard ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on policies and programs that better career pathways in the trades while strengthening fair and open competition on taxpayer-funded construction projects. Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia and Florida round out the top five states for 2024 in ranking order.
“Policies and processes that protect free enterprise, promote economic growth, reduce regulatory burdens and expand workforce development create the conditions to welcome all of the U.S. construction industry to rebuild America’s infrastructure,” says ABC Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “States like Wisconsin, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia and Florida set the standard in favorable conditions for the construction industry, and its workforce, to thrive. Hard-working taxpayers are best served by a regulatory environment that creates a level playing field for all contractors to build America with fewer obstacles.”
Wisconsin has been a high-performing state year after year, but takes the top 2024 spot for the highest scores on fair and open competition policies prohibiting government-mandated project labor agreements (PLA), ensuring market-driven wages on public works jobs and protecting workers with its right-to-work law; a sustained level of positive job growth in construction, with a five-year job growth rate of 4.4 percent; a continued commitment to quality career and technical education (CTE), delivering a 97.4 percent graduation rate for students in related programs and a 91.4 percent rate of postsecondary CTE students placed in careers and/or apprenticeship programs; and, a workforce development pipeline that delivers a construction labor supply over 100 percent of demand amidst a nationwide construction labor shortage.
PERENNIAL PERFORMERS
Arkansas came in second behind Wisconsin, one step up from 2023 when it ranked third. The state has excelled at all aspects of fostering and educating a skilled workforce, ABC contends, boasting a 6.1 percent growth rate in construction industry jobs and delivering outstanding results in CTE. Arkansas also maintains a fair and open public construction market, allowing the full breadth of the state’s construction workforce to pursue projects. Florida, Arizona and Indiana remain high performer; all three maintain exceptional CTE and workforce development programs, delivering a robust and highly skilled workforce.
Indiana continues to protect public projects from the threat of PLAs on the state and local level when possible, including targeted policies such as the prohibition of government-mandated agreements on large-scale projects in Indianapolis. This highlights Indiana’s successful defense of the merit shop and taxpayers in a historically difficult Midwestern political environment. Florida, a former first-place state, continues to perform highly across the board. With one of the largest economies in the country and extensive labor needs, it has maintained a particular focus on innovative career-centered education opportunities. It continues to yield positive results for craft professionals and the construction workforce as the state experiences record population growth.
Arizona returned to the top 10 in 2024 due to a 5.8 percent job growth rate in construction and a 90 percent labor supply versus demand, along with the state’s continued maintenance of a prohibition on government-mandated PLAs and other policy vehicles fostering an attractive business environment. Michigan continued to drop in the rankings in 2024, falling to No. 33 due to the full repeal of right-to-work legislation. The legislature moved to repeal the Fair and Open Competition Act by the end of 2024. That action capped an adversarial two years for the merit shop that saw return of prevailing wage—initially repealed in 2018—via codification after Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer reinstated prevailing wage through 2022 executive action, coupled with a right to work repeal in 2024.
At the bottom of the 2024 ABC Merit Shop Scorecard, in ranking order, are Washington, the District of Columbia, Illinois, New York and Hawaii, each receiving poor ratings for creating conditions and policies that allow merit shop contractors to thrive. Low-performing states maintain policies unfriendly to open shop contractors and taxpayers, such as encouraging or requiring the use of government-mandated PLAs on state and/or local projects, including new executive actions by governors in Hawaii, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Policies limiting opportunity for the merit shop workforce, which makes up the majority of construction workers in these states, also lead to lower-than-desired outcomes in workforce readiness and job growth for the construction industry, whether union or merit shop.
