The New Bedford metro area ranked No. 17 out of 337 in the nation for the increase in construction employment, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.

Construction employment in the New Bedford area increased 13 percent to 1,800 in February, up from 1,600 in February 2010.

Two other Massachusetts metro areas also experienced increases in construction employment. Leominster-Fitchburg-Gardner saw a 15 percent rise to 1,500 from 1,300 in 2010 and both Springfield construction employment increased 13 percent to 8,000 from 7,100 a year ago.

The three metro areas were among 141 across the country that had a positive increase in construction employment numbers.

Even with those increases, several Massachusetts metro areas experienced decreases, including Barnstable Town, Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Framingham and Worcester. Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury, Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, Peabody and Pittsfield didn’t experience any change. As a whole, the commonwealth had a 4 percent decrease in construction employment.

"With nearly half of all U.S. metro areas finally adding construction jobs, these numbers are welcome news," said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. "But warm winter weather probably played a larger role in driving these numbers up than did any change in construction demand."

"Just because the weather was warmer doesn’t mean the construction market is heating up," said Stephen Sandherr, the association’s CEO. "As much as we hope to see even more construction jobs being created, the market’s momentum just doesn’t appear to be heading in the right direction yet."