WASHINGTON — The construction industry added 11,000 jobs on net in September, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has increased by 109,000 jobs, or 1.3%.
Nonresidential construction employment increased by 16,100 positions in September, with gains in all three subcategories. Nonresidential specialty trade added the most jobs, growing by 12,300 positions, while heavy and civil engineering and nonresidential building added 2,600 and 1,200 jobs, respectively.
The construction unemployment rate was 3.5% last month. Unemployment across all industries increased to 4.2% but is 0.2 percentage points lower than one year ago.
“The construction industry added jobs for the seventh straight month in September,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Industry employment growth is increasingly concentrated on the nonresidential side as the data center boom continues to support rapid hiring of certain specialty trade contractors.
“At the same time, the residential segment continues to hemorrhage workers, and that side of the industry has now shed 1.0% of its employment base over the past year,” said Basu. “Contractor hiring expectations remain elevated, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, an outlook that seems justified given the insatiable demand for new data centers.”
