Rhode Island construction jobs will be building up through 2014.

Rhode Island employment as a whole is expected to increase by more than 55,000 jobs through 2014. There should be 573,437 jobs in 2014, an increase of 55,292, or 10.7 percent, from the 2004 employment of 518, 145 jobs.

As employment levels grow, the demand for new construction and reconstruction jobs will continue to increase, resulting in the addition of about 4,300 construction jobs, according to an article by the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training. The state’s construction industry is projected to grow at a rate of 20.3 percent, higher than the 10.7 percent projected increase for all industries. Construction employment is expected to exceed 25,000 by 2014.

“Above average job growth is projected for all three construction industry subsectors, with the greatest number of jobs occurring among specialty trade contractors,” the article notes. “Job growth within the specialty trade contractors subsector is expected to grow at 24 percent. The fastest growing occupations within this subsector include heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC) mechanics and installers; cost estimators; roofers and cement masons and concrete finishers.”

In 2004, about half of Rhode Island’s construction workers were carpenters; construction laborers; construction supervisors; plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters and electricians. These occupations are expected to continue to make up the majority of the construction industry, accounting for about 2,000 of the new jobs created.

The average annual wage for a construction worker in Rhode Island $43,627 per year. It is expected construction industry employers will need to fill 8,450 job openings through 2014, 51 percent because of economic growth and 49 percent due to employee turnover.

Rhode Island’s fastest growing construction jobs include:

• HVAC mechanics and installers
• roofers
• cost estimators
• plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters
• brick, block and stone mason helpers
• brickmasons and blockmasons
• electricians
• cement masons and concrete finishers
• construction and maintenance painters
• first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers
• construction workers
• heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers
• construction and operating engineers
• equipment operators
• carpenters