U.S. construction industry added 19,000 jobs in August

The U.S. construction industry added 19,000 jobs in August as a strike that had lowered employment in July ended, but the sector’s 17 per cent unemployment rate was the highest August rate ever, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.

“Continuing gridlock in Washington over infrastructure legislation and expiring tax rates threatens to keep construction workers unemployed much longer,” AGC said. Construction layoffs in May through July offset modest job gains in March, April and August, leaving the industry with a “tragically high unemployment rate last month,” said AGC’s chief economist Ken Simonson.

The industry’s 17.0 per cent rate was higher even than the 16.5 per cent rate a year earlier, he noted, and far above the unadjusted national rate of 9.5 per cent.

“Construction began losing jobs four years ago, more than a year before the rest of the private sector, and the industry remains stuck in neutral at best, nine months after other industries started adding jobs consistently,” Simonson said.

Over the past year, 274,000 construction workers (4.7 per cent of the August 2009 total) have lost jobs, spread among all five categories tabulated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics: nonresidential specialty trade contractors (123,700 or 5.8 per cent); residential specialty trade contractors (63,200 or 4.0 per cent); residential building (45,700 or 7.4 per cent); non-residential building (31,900 or 4.5 per cent); and heavy and civil engineering construction (10,000 or 1.2 per cent).