Construction employment added 10,000 jobs on net in November, according to Associated Builders and Contractors. On a year-over-year basis, the industry has expanded by 211,000 jobs—an increase of 2.6%.
The construction unemployment rate rose from 4.2% in October to 4.6% in November. The national unemployment rate for all industries rose to 4.2% in November from 4.1% in October as the U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs.
Nonresidential construction added 6,800 jobs in November, with growth in two of the three subsectors. Nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 7,000 jobs, and heavy and civil engineering added 1,500 jobs. Nonresidential building lost 1,700 jobs in November.
“While the construction industry added just 10,000 jobs in November, industrywide employment growth has still significantly outpaced the broader economy over the past year,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “More importantly, economywide job gains rebounded in November, confirming October’s paltry job growth was indeed a result of hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“The combination of relatively cool payroll employment growth over the past three months, combined with a slight uptick in the unemployment rate, increases the odds that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again at their December meeting, though the greater determinant will be the Consumer Price Index data released next week,” Basu continued. “For the construction industry, there is plenty of reason for optimism, given the prospect of lower interest rates and that contractors broadly expect their sales to increase over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index.”
