Construction Employment Stalls as Industry Unemployment Rate Falls to 4.5%

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Construction employment edged up by 2,000 jobs between March and April as contractors try to find workers in an increasingly tight labor market, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government data. Association leaders urged officials in Washington to address both short- and long-term worker shortages with expanded permits for foreign-born workers and support for career training and education to enable more workers to acquire the skills for high-paying construction careers. The unemployment rate among jobseekers with construction experience tumbled from 7.7% in April 2021 to 4.6% April 2022, the lowest April rate since … Read more

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Nonresidential Construction Employment Dips in April

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The construction industry added 2,000 jobs in April, but nonresidential construction employment decreased by 2,000 positions, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has expanded by 235,000 jobs, an increase of 3.2%. All of the job losses in the nonresidential sector came from the nonresidential specialty trade segment, which lost 6,400 jobs. Nonresidential building and heavy and civil engineering added 3,900 and 500 jobs, respectively. The construction unemployment rate dropped to 4.6% in April. Unemployment across all industries remained unchanged at 3.6% last month. … Read more

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ABC Members Invest $1.6 Billion in Construction Education

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Associated Builders and Contractors member contractors invested $1.6 billion to provide more than 1.3 million course attendees with craft, leadership and safety education in 2021, according to its 2022 Workforce Development Survey, up from $1.3 billion in 2020. The annual assessment quantifies the scope of ABC members’ workforce development initiatives to advance its employees’ careers in commercial and industrial construction to build the places where Americans live, work, learn, heal and play. Safety education accounted for the greatest share, 56%, of total workforce investment. Investment in craft education increased significantly to 34% of the total in 2021, up from 22% … Read more

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Construction Job Openings Increased in March; Demand for Labor Remains Strong

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The construction industry had 396,000 job openings in March, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Industry job openings increased by 13,000 in March and are up 60,000 from the same time last year. Construction workers quit their jobs at a faster rate than they were laid off or discharged in March, with the quits rate of 3.2% well above the layoffs and discharges rate of 1.6%. March represented the 13th consecutive month in which quits outpaced or equaled layoffs and discharges. “The March JOLTS data reflect a labor … Read more

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Nonresidential Construction Spending Down 1% in March

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National nonresidential construction spending was down 0.8% in March, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors’ analysis of data published by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $839.2 billion for the month. Spending was down on a monthly basis in 11 of 16 nonresidential subcategories. Private nonresidential spending was down 1.2%, while public nonresidential construction spending was down 0.3% in March. On a year-over-year basis, nonresidential construction spending is up 5.6%, led by 31.9% growth in construction related to manufacturing. “March’s construction spending numbers aren’t adjusted for inflation and are actually worse than … Read more

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