Market Report: Employment and Layoffs in the Construction Industry

by Jonathan McGaha | July 31, 2011 12:00 am

In June the Associated General Contractors reported on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data on construction employment showing a market 26% below its peak in April 2006. Here’s the note from the press release:

“Construction employment totaled 5,513,000, seasonally adjusted, down 9,000 from May, up 2,000 from June 2010 and down 2,213,000 (29%) from the peak in April 2006. The unemployment rate for construction workers was 15.6%, not seasonally adjusted, down from 20.1% in June 2010. (BLS does not report seasonally adjusted rates by industry.) The combination of static employment and falling unemployment suggests that discouraged workers are retiring, going back to school or finding jobs in other industries rather than returning to construction-a bad omen for future industry expansion.”

The following table shows data for construction of buildings only, which includes both residential and non-residential construction.

Market Report

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