Construction employers added 19,000 workers to payrolls in March, bringing industry employment to the highest level since June 2009, while the industry's unemployment rate dropped to the lowest March level in seven years, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials warned that the pool of available workers is declining rapidly, raising the prospects for significant labor shortages if demand continues to expand.
Construction employment totaled 5,964,000 in March, a gain of 151,000 or 2.6 percent from a year earlier, compared with a rise in total nonfarm employment of 1.7 percent over that period, Simonson noted. Residential building and specialty trade contractors added a combined total of 9,100 workers in March and 103,000 (4.8 percent) over 12 months. Nonresidential
construction-- building, specialty trades and heavy and civil engineering contractors grew by 9,900 employees last month and 48,800 (1.3 percent) since March 2013.
The unemployment rate for workers actively looking for jobs and last employed in
construction declined from 14.7 percent a year earlier to 11.3 percent last month. The unemployment rate for
construction workers had fallen by more than half since March 2010, when it reached 24.9 percent. During that time, the number of unemployed workers who last worked in
construction declined by 1.3 million, but industry employment increased by only 445,000.