Construction employment continued its recent rise, registering a modest increase of 10,000 in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
The latest monthly BLS employment report, released Dec. 6, also showed that, within the industry total, the nonresidential specialty contractor category posted the best results for the month, adding 7,000 jobs.
Residential specialty contractors gained 1,700 positions
Heavy construction and civil engineering, which includes infrastructure, also increased, adding 1,500 workers.
On the downside was non-residential building construction, which lost 1,700 positions.
Using another measure, total manufacturing employment rose by 211,000, or 2.6%, in the 12 months ended in November.
Analyzes of construction economists
Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said in a statement: “Job gains in both home construction and nonresidential building construction have slowed over the past year.” Simonson added: “But contractors have been hanging on to workers, a sign they expect work to pick up soon.”
He also said a separate BLS report, released Dec. 3, showed construction layoffs fell to 97,000 in October, the lowest monthly figure since the bureau began compiling the data. Simonson said this indicates that contractors expect to need more workers in the near term, even with the modest increase in jobs last month.
The construction unemployment rate showed mixed results in the latest employment report. The rate rose to 4.6% in November, from 4.2% in October. But the rate was down from the previous year’s mark of 4.8%.
Office occupancy figures are seasonally adjusted; their unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.
Anirban Basu, chief economist at Associated Builders and Contractors, noted in a statement that while construction job growth in November was modest, it outpaced overall growth in the economy north american “More importantly,” Basu added, “economy-wide job gains rebounded in November, rising to 227,000 compared to a surprisingly small increase of 36,000 in October, according to the preliminary figure from the BLS.
The national unemployment rate rose to 4.3% from 4.2% in October.
Basu said November’s uptick in jobs overall is confirmation that “October’s meager job growth was a result of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.”
Basu sees the odds of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in December improving.
He added: “For the construction sector, there are many reasons for optimism,” due to the prospect of lower interest rates and contractors’ expectations of increased sales in the next six months.
