So how can the Construction unemployment rate for April 2012 fall to 14.5% (from 17.2% in March) but the industry lose 2,000 jobs? As ENR reported, the laid off construction workers find jobs outside the construction industry. In fact, though the unemployment rate has steadily dropped, the construction industry employs less workers than in April 2010.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest monthly report, though, the architectural and engineering services have added 7,400 jobs in the last month. That’s normally a harbinger of good news for construction.

As I’ve been writing for over a year, if Europe doesn’t melt down, we should be on our way to a reasonable recovery in construction. We certainly see it here.