BATON ROUGE — Baton Rouge ranked first out of 360 metro areas in the nation for percentage increase in construction employment, according to the Associated General Contractors.

National and state representatives of the Associated General Contractors made the announcement in Baton Rouge, using the I-10 widening project work zone as a backdrop.

Between June 2025 and June of this year, the metro area added more than 10,000 construction jobs, bringing the total to 57,400, a 22 percent jump. Baton Rouge also ranked third in the country for the actual number of construction jobs added during that period.

The Associated General Contractors are pushing for a new federal transportation bill from Congress. The group says the current federal highway and transit law, which funds projects like the Interstate 10 widening, expires at the end of September.

"Whether Louisiana continues to grow and add jobs is at risk," said Ken Simonson with Associated General Contractors of America. "However, the current federal highway and transit law, which provides the majority of fundings for projects like this one, expires at the end of September. All too often these days, Washington officials struggle to get things done on time."

Construction employment improved in every Louisiana metro area over the last year.