Construction employment increased by 7,000 jobs in September following an increase of 14,000 jobs in August, according to www.agc.org.
The construction unemployment rate was 3.2% in September. The national unemployment rate for all industries fell to 3.5%.
The construction sector added 156,000 net new jobs during the past 12 months—a 2.1% increase. Average hourly earnings in construction increased 2.2% during the past year to $30.81, which is 9.7% higher than the private-sector average of $28.09.
“Contractors foresee plenty of projects to bid on, and nearly three-fourths of firms expect to add workers during the next 12 months, but most are finding it hard to find qualified workers to hire,” says Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America. “That’s not surprising, given that the total unemployment rate hit a 50-year low in September—a sign that workers are hard to come by throughout the economy.”
