Daily Ranking: Bricks, mortar and jobs

Well, one could note the regional unemployment rate dropped below 8%.  Almost sounds like bad news.

To dig into the numbers beyond the headline...  according to a report from the Associated General Contractors of America the total gain in the absolute # of construction jobs here over the last year, +1,800 between December 2009 and December 2010, was the 4th largest gain among all metro areas. Gain, as in increase. Only Columbus, Dallas and Phoenix had more.  Curious, since I am bit unclear what construction is ramping up of late.

But when have we ever lead the nation in construction employment trends?