october construction jobs register yet one more increase

New jobs in the construction industry nationally were up by more than 30,000 during the month of October, a record statistic matched by an overall yearly gain since October of 2017 of 315,000 workers.
These are the latest numbers compiled by the Associated General Contractors of America, which also show that the industry’s unemployment rate has dropped to 3.6 percent.
Total national construction employment is now at just over 7.3 million—and that’s a jump of 4.7 percent since last fall.
One of the hotspots, according to the AGC statistics, is in residential construction, which has seen a 5.3 percent employment growth, for a total of 143,500 new jobs.
Additional increases were posted in heavy and civil engineering construction, with  slightly lower growth rate of 5.3 percent, for a total of 187,200 new jobs.
The overall unemployment rate for the construction industry as of last month is now at 3.6 percent, a record low. Last year at this time it stood at 4.5 percent.
Additional information provided by the AGC reveals industry optimism heading into 2019, with between 74 and 79 percent of company respondents nationally saying they expect to hire more qualified workers in the coming year.
And, according to the survey, the larger the company, the more likely it will be hiring.
Some 79 percent of firms netting between $10 and $50 million a year expect to bring on more workers next year; 80 percent of firms making between $50 and $500 million will add workers; while a very large 87 percent of firms in the $500 million range and above have announced plans to increase hiring.

By Garry Boulard

---