Construction employment increased by 52,000 jobs in January following an increase of 38,000 jobs in December 2018, according to www.agc.org.
The construction industry unemployment rate increased to 6.4 percent. The national unemployment rate for all industries rose to 4 percent.
The construction sector added 338,000 net new jobs during the past 12 months.
"There has been no letup in demand for construction projects—or workers," says Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America. "Even though the industry added employees at more than double the pace of the overall economy in the past year, the average workweek in construction reached an all-time high and unemployment in construction hit a series low, indicating that contractors would hire even more workers if they were available."
