Construction employment added 22,000 jobs on net in August, according to Associated Builders and Contractors. On a year-over-year basis, the industry has expanded by 212,000 jobs—an increase of 2.7%.
The construction unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.9% in August. The national unemployment rate for all industries rose from 3.5% in July to 3.8% in August as the U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs.
Nonresidential construction added 21,000 jobs in August, with gains in all three subsectors. Nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 12,100 jobs for the month; heavy and civil engineering added 7,100 jobs; and nonresidential building added 1,800 jobs.
“This is the era of the megaproject,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “While many private developers are encountering harsher lending markets and suffering greater difficulty financing projects, the transformation of American manufacturing, combined with accelerating infrastructure spending, has dramatically increased demand for construction workers. Many of these projects exceed $1 billion. This is especially true in certain parts of the nation, including Ohio, Texas and Arizona.
“Given the outsized role of megaprojects in the current economic environment, it is conceivable that the construction industry will face recessionary conditions in certain areas of the country sometime during the next two years, even as activity surges in others,” Basu continued. “This suggests that many construction workers may decide to relocate as the disparity in industry performance widens both geographically and among various industry segments.”
