Construction Jobs Up, But Still Behind 2010 Levels (March 4)

  “Given what this industry has been through, figures like these are as welcome as they are long overdue,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “The question now is whether these figures reflect a thaw in economic conditions for the industry, or the benefits of warmer weather and less snow in many parts of the country in February.”

Ken Simonson, AGCA chief economist,  cautioned that despite experiencing the single largest monthly gain in construction employment since March 2007, construction employment is still down by over 2.2 million from the industry’s April 2006 peak. At that time over 7.7 million people worked in construction nationwide, while the industry now employs only 5.5 million people, Simonson noted.

He added that for the 47th consecutive month, the February total was lower than the same month a year before.

The construction economist noted that both residential and nonresidential construction sectors added jobs in February. The largest gains came from the nonresidential specialty trade sector, which added 16,700 jobs during the month. Residential specialty trade contractors added another 11,000 jobs in February.

The only segment of the construction industry to shed jobs in February was nonresidential building, which lost 2,000 jobs.

Get the best in insightful and informed coverage of the stone industry every month with Stone Business magazine. Sign up for a free subscription (or renew your current account) and don’t miss a single issue – just click here.