construction employment up, with more than a third of the jobs in homebuilding

Nearly 10 million people were working in the nation’s construction industry by the end of the year 2016, a significant increase over the previous 5 years.

Of that total, according to an analysis just released by the National Association of Homebuilders, more than 3.8 million were in residential construction.

While such numbers, according to the NAHB, show a national industry on the mend, they are still below the pre-recession peak year of 2006 when the industry had more than 11 million workers, with an excess of 5 million in homebuilding.

Nevertheless, says the report authored by Natalia Siniavskaia, assistant vice-president for housing policy research with NAHB, the latest numbers represent “five consecutive years of steady job gains.”

The NAHB numbers, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, also show that some 23 percent of the national construction workforce is made up of self-employed workers.

Writes Siniavskaia: “The high self-employed rates in construction reflect a common practice of builders and remodelers to maintain a relatively small payroll and rely on subcontractors for a large share of the construction market.”

The report additionally shows that in measuring construction employment by Congressional districts, southern Arizona and Colorado have recorded up to 11,000 jobs per district, with New Mexico seeing an average of 5,000 to 7,000 jobs on average in its three Congressional districts.

By Garry Boulard