With mixed economic reports, engineering and construction firms are looking for encouraging signs to make future plans. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, the U.S. construction industry added 37,000 net new jobs in March.
The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), in a release, reported that on a year-over-year basis, construction employment expanded by 301,000 net new jobs, the industry’s largest annual increase since May 2015. The industry added 20,000 net new jobs in February (revised upward from 19,000) and 18,000 net new jobs in January.
In March, he nonresidential sector added 12,700 jobs on a monthly basis in March after adding only 1,300 net new positions in February (revised downward from 2,800). Nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 6,500 positions in March after losing jobs in the first two months of the year. Heavy and civil engineering employment added 11,200 net new jobs in March, the sector’s largest gain since January 2014, perhaps partially because recently passed federal highway legislation signals more work in the pipeline.
“The headline job growth number tells us that construction remains one of the U.S. economy’s leading economic drivers,” said ABC’s Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “While the broader economic recovery remains in place, construction accounts for a disproportionate share of that recovery. Many other aspects of the recovery remain at least somewhat unsatisfying, including surprisingly soft wage growth, weak corporate profits and sluggishness in business investment. However, demand for labor remains high, including in a number of key nonresidential construction segments.
The construction industry unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.7 percent in March, but remains almost a full percentage point lower than at the same time one year ago. The unemployment rate across all industries rose by a tenth of a percentage point in March and now stands at 5 percent. This slight uptick is largely attributable to the 396,000 people who entered the labor force in March, a positive indication for the durability of the expansion.
“Continued job growth helps fuel both spending power and confidence,” said Basu. “Naturally, consumer spending-led recoveries such as this more directly impact residential construction segments than nonresidential. Accordingly, the residential construction recovery continues to be a bit more forceful and that is likely to continue during the months ahead.”
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