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Dive brief:
- The The construction industry had 441,000 unfilled jobs in February, 16,000 more (or 3.8 percent more) than in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ job opening survey released Tuesday.
- The BLS report counts the number of positions for which employers were actively hiring. The February figure was 7.8% higher than the same period last year.
- The growth occurred when the industry had 403,000 new hires, the the second highest rate in history, according to Anirban Basu, chief economist at Associated Builders and Contractors. At the same time, BLS measured 375,000 total separations, counting layoffs, layoffs, and discharges.
Diving knowledge:
Basu said the high rate of hires and layoffs indicates a wide gap between the construction sectors.
“This suggests a schism in which certain construction segments driven by federal funding and incentives continue to generate strong demand for labor, while privately funded segments saw somewhat slower growth,” Basu wrote.
At the same time, only about one in 10 contractors expect to reduce staffing levels in the next six months, according to a survey of ABC members.
In February, non-residential spending also fell 1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.179 trillion, marking the second straight month of contraction in construction spending. This was preceded by 19 months of growth.
Basu indicated that the contraction could be ignored and attributed to colder winter weather, but it could also be a wake-up call about higher interest rates eventually having an impact on the industry.
