By Stephanie Guzman, Reporter for Albuquerque Business First:

Despite plenty of commercial construction projects across Albuquerque and new homes and neighborhoods being built, New Mexico's construction unemployment rate is the worst in the U.S.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, New Mexico's construction unemployment rate was 8.9 percent in May. Our state is ranked 50th, and falls behind Rhode Island, Alabama, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

The state with the lowest construction unemployment rate was Idaho at 1.9 percent. The national average is 5.2 percent.

Despite being ranked last, New Mexico was among 46 states that saw improvement in the unemployment rate year over year. To put that in real numbers, the Associated Builders and Contractors of New Mexico said the industry employed 213,000 more people last month than in May 2015, when the unemployment rate was 10.6 percent.

Typically, homebuilding and other types of construction ramp up in the summer months, when weather isn't as much of a factor in building timelines. More commercial construction projects are in the pipeline, from apartment buildings Downtown to new hotels, and homebuilding remains steady. Click here to read the full story.