New Jobs Report Shows Increased Construction Employment

Even as contractors are reporting a growing number of cancelled projects, overall construction employment was on the upside last month, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

The new numbers show a total gain of 84,000 construction jobs in October as part of a larger national total of 7.3 million.

The largest gain was seen in nonresidential construction employment, up by just under 60,000 new jobs.

That gain was followed by the 27,500 seen in the specialty trades, and 23,800 in residential construction employment.

Smaller gains were noted in the heavy and civil engineering construction sector, up by 18,800 jobs, and nonresidential building at 13,400.

While the job increases were the most significant in months, the BLS report also noted the hit taken earlier this year by the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent national economic shutdown, which resulted in a loss of nearly 457,000 construction industry jobs.

The report also indicated that while the nation’s larger unemployment rate in October had dropped to 6.8%, from a high of just under 15% in April, that still meant that some 674,000 construction professionals remained out of work.
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The BLS report additionally notes that while 15.1 million people in October said they had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic, “this measure is down from 19.4 million in September.”

By Garry Boulard

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