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CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

March 12, 2012

Construction Employment Improves for 17th Month in a Row
Filed under: Industry outlook — Tags: — nedpelger

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Feb 2012 construction unemployment rate was 17.1%, an improvement from the 17.8% Jan 2012 rate. It’s a substantial improvement from the Feb 2011 rate of 21.8%. In fact, the report shows notable gains in construction employment in the last year across all categories. The seasonably adjusted rates are shown below (in thousands).

Type                                   Feb 2011     Feb 2012

1. Constr of bldgs              1,141.11      1,236.3
1.1 Resid  bldgs                      528.0          573.1
1.2Nonresid  bldgs               613.1           663.2
2. Heavy and civil                 714.7         836.5
3. Specialty trades              3,192.8     3,480.8
3.1 Resid spec trades         1,328.3     1,457.6
3.2 Nonresid spec trades 1,864.5     2,023.2
Total Construction       5,049              5,554

The employment rate grew for the 17th consecutive month, which is welcome news. From the chart above, you can see that a half million construction jobs were added in the last year. An ENR article puts that news in perspective, though, noting that 2.2M construction jobs have been lost since the 2006 peak.

I don’t know what you’re seeing, but 2012 projects are coming in fast and furious for me. Seems like owners want to build while prices are still low, but demand is rising. Lots of owners seem to think the end of the Great Recession is now.

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