The state said it is making progress in its efforts to bolster the construction industry with public projects, though an examination of recent jobless figures shows thousands of construction workers remain without jobs.

Gov. Linda Lingle's office said its efforts to accelerate capital improvement projects had resulted in $1.49 billion of public infrastructure jobs having had bids opened, awarded or started construction during the past year.

The state said it has been able to advance 681 capital improvement projects as part of an effort to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

The program to accelerate public construction was launched about a year ago targeting about 1,500 capital improvement projects worth $1.8 billion that were previously budgeted and approved by the Legislature.

The state estimated it has created 4,469 construction jobs through the initiative.

But the effort hasn't been able to stem all the job losses in the industry.

In October the number of construction jobs totaled 32,300, according to the latest figures from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. That was down 13 percent from a year earlier when there were 37,100 people employed in the industry.

The state said it hopes to put out for bid another 1,021 projects worth $314.1 million by the end of the year.