Unemployment Rate Falls to Lowest Rate for Month, Craft Pay Levels Rise, Says AGC

The construction sector added 23,000 jobs in June while the sector’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest rate ever for the month and pay levels in the industry continued to rise, according to an analysis of new government data the Associated General Contractors of America released. Association officials said there appears to be plenty of demand for construction services and that employers likely would have added even more jobs if they could find more workers to hire.

“There was no letup in demand for construction workers in June, while the supply of available workers remained exceptionally tight,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Both residential and nonresidential construction are expanding despite concerns about overall economic growth and inflation.”

Construction employment in June totaled 7,947,000, seasonally adjusted, an addition of 23,000 or 0.3% from the month prior. The sector has added 198,000 jobs during the past 12 months, an increase of 2.6%. Nonresidential construction firms — nonresidential building and specialty trade contractors along with heavy and civil engineering construction firms — added 12,200 employees in June. Meanwhile, employment at residential building and specialty trade contractors grew by 10,800.

The unemployment rate among jobseekers with construction experience dipped from 3.7% in June 2022 to 3.6%, the lowest June rate in the 24-year history of the data.

Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees in construction — covering most onsite craft workers, as well as many office workers — climbed by 5.7% over the year to $34.09 per hour. Construction firms in May provided a wage “premium” of more than 18% compared to the average hourly earnings for all private-sector production employees.