The construction industry added 4,000 jobs in May, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has increased by 126,000 jobs, an increase of 1.5 percent.
Nonresidential construction employment increased by 11,300 positions, with growth in all three subcategories. Nonresidential specialty trade added the most jobs, increasing by 4,500 positions, while heavy and civil engineering and nonresidential building added 3,700 and 3,100 jobs, respectively.
The construction unemployment rate decreased to 3.5 percent in May. Unemployment across all industries remained unchanged at 4.2 percent. Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees in construction—including most onsite craft workers and many office staff—increased 4.7 percent over the year to $37.13. That gain exceeded the 4 percent rise in pay for such workers in the overall private sector.
“The nonresidential construction segment has now added jobs at over twice the pace of the broader economy during the past 12 months,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “This hiring has been aided by softness in the residential segment, which lost over 7,000 jobs in May, freeing up workers for nonresidential contractors. Even so, the industrywide unemployment rate fell to an exceptionally low 3.5 percent in May, indicating that the labor supply remains unusually tight.
“Despite healthy nonresidential hiring, the broader industry has added just 25,000 jobs from January to May,” said Basu. “That marks the slowest five-month employment growth since 2020 and provides a clear indication that high interest rates, tight lending standards and policy uncertainty are weighing on industrywide momentum. Of course, contractors remain broadly optimistic in the face of those headwinds, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, with a majority of contractors expecting their staffing levels to increase over the next six months.”
