Construction employment added 19,000 jobs on net in February, according to Associated Builders and Contractors. On a year-over-year basis, the industry has expanded by 174,000 jobs—an increase of 2.1%.
The construction unemployment rate rose from 6.5% in January to 7.2% in February. The national unemployment rate for all industries rose from 4% in January to 4.1% in February as the U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs.
Nonresidential construction added 6,200 jobs in February, with growth in all three subsectors. Heavy and civil engineering added 2,500 jobs; nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 2,000 jobs; and nonresidential building added 1,700 jobs.
“The February jobs report suggests that contractors’ ongoing optimism, as seen in ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, is justified,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “The industry added 19,000 jobs in February, making it the strongest month of growth since the third quarter of 2024, and the sizable jump in the industry unemployment rate indicates the labor supply can accommodate ongoing hiring.
“Economywide job growth was also perfectly decent, with U.S. employers adding 151,000 jobs last month,” Basu continued. “Following several weeks of concerning economic data and rising economic uncertainty, a good-but-boring jobs report is a welcome development. Federal government employment declined by 10,000 and will likely fall further in the coming months, but that segment is just 2% of overall employment. Federal job and spending cuts, as well as elevated uncertainty, could eventually diminish construction activity at the margins, but those effects have yet to appear in these employment data.”
