西弗吉尼亚州被评为该国增长最慢的建筑市场之一大约三年后，他转弯了。而且，由于蓬勃发展的天然气行业，山区可能会看到更多的建筑业向前发展。

According Associated General Contractors of America’s统计数据西弗吉尼亚州本月发行的新建筑工作增加了14.4％，即2017年1月至2018年1月。西弗吉尼亚州的建设速度最快。job loss在2014年3月至2015年3月之间的国家中。该州在此期间提供了2,400个工作岗位，占7.2％的下降。

The latest numbers show that West Virginia, from a percentage standpoint, ranked above California (9.8%, 75,500 jobs), Nevada (9.7%, 7,800 jobs) and New Mexico (9.7%, 4,300 jobs) between January 2017 and January 2018.

Steve White, director of Affiliated Construction Trades, a division of the West Virginia State building trades, says the turnaround for construction is “great news for West Virginia” but that it has just put the state back to where it was before the state's economy collapsed. “Much of the commercial and government building construction remains depressed," he says. "The gas related work, meaning processing facilities and pipelines, has definitely picked up in the northern part of the state.”

总体而言，根据AGC对劳工部数据的分析，在同一跨越同一范围内增加了建筑工作，而32个州和华盛顿特区在12月至1月之间增加了建筑工作。

In a press release announcing the figures, however, AGC chief economist Ken Simonson said the growth could be hurt by the Trump Administration’s tariffs on steel and aluminum. Simonson said. “many of the jobs are at risk if unwise tariffs push up materials costs, making projects unaffordable, and if the nation continues to underfund infrastructure investment.”

该报告还指出，在2017年1月至2018年1月之间，有15个州失去了建筑工作。北达科他州的比例下降了最差的-15.8％，或削减了4,600个工作岗位。爱荷华州（-5.9％，-4,600个工作岗位），内布拉斯加州（-3.1％，-1,600个工作岗位），路易斯安那州（-2.3％，-3,400个工作岗位）和密苏里州（-2.5％，-3,000个工作）也失去了工作。

“值得注意的是三个州的largest job gains were all recovering from natural disasters, in addition to having generally robust economies,” Simonson said. “The job losses in North Dakota and other Plains states may have more to do with severe weather conditions this January than a long-term downtrend.”

在西弗吉尼亚州，主要的管道项目使工人忙碌。新利18备用网址TransCanada放置了浸出Xpress管道进入服务in January. The year-long project was constructed by 5,000 employees and contractors. New pipeline projects getting underway have the potential to bring even more construction jobs to the state. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is slated to begin full construction later this spring.

But the state’s pipeline projects have faced significant delays due to environmental violations, legal challenges and protests. Construction on the $4.2 billion Rover natural gas pipeline was recentlyhalted在九个月中，第二次未能满足州水污染控制许可证要求。

Lawyers for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which recently began tree felling, failed to说服法官3月20日，法官认为，抗议者在乔治·华盛顿（George Washington）和西弗吉尼亚州杰斐逊国家森林（Jefferson National Sorests）的树木中露营。该项目的女发言人娜塔莉·考克斯（Natalie Cox）说：“我们了解，我们为计划和设计一条管道路线所做的努力和进步，以保护文化和历史资源，并保留敏感和环保物种，可能无法满足反对的人到地下，天然气基础设施。”

同时，怀特说，该地区最大的经济驱动力可能是乙烷饼干植物。壳正在建造一个60亿美元的饼干项目在宾夕法尼亚州西弗吉尼亚边境附近的俄亥俄河上。PTT全球化学也有proposedmultibillion-dollar ethane cracker plant in eastern Ohio along the West Virginia border.

西弗吉尼亚州道路债券计划approved by voters last fall is also expected to start producing jobs. The Department of Highways says it will pull $800 million from the bond market later this spring. “The question remains how much will go to local workers,” White says. “There's lot’s on the horizon but we are not yet significantly ahead of where we were a few years ago.”