South Australia's government will create more than 2,000 construction jobs in 2016 in the hope of boosting its struggling economy.

Work will begin on more than $2.5 billion of major projects, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan says, including the $985 million Northern Connector road upgrade, a new city high school and Adelaide’s Festival Plaza redevelopment.

The government also plans to build 1,000 public housing dwellings over 1,000 days, a centrepiece of its December mid-year budget review.

Unemployment in SA remained the highest in the nation at 7.3 per cent in November.