(NAHB) — The U.S. labor market continues to gradually recover, and residential construction remains one of the brightest areas of the economy. In fact, total employment in the residential construction sector in October rose to 2.9 million — 11,500 higher than where it was a year ago.
Month-over-month employment numbers were also promising for the overall construction industry, which added 84,000 jobs in October. Other sectors that also saw significant job gains include leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and retail trade.
The nation’s job gains have slowed in recent months, though the unemployment rate still declined to 6.9% in October. For construction workers, the unemployment rate has been trending downward after climbing to 16.1% in April. With last month’s job growth, the unemployment rate for the construction sector dropped to 8.2%.
NAHB economist Jing Fu provides further analysis in this Eye On Housing post.
Tagged with construction, construction employment