The construction industry added 23,000 jobs in October as the unemployment rate for the sector neared the all-time low for the month, according to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).
“Despite the fact pay for hourly craft workers is rising faster than for production employees, contractors are still struggling to find enough skilled workers,” says Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist. “Both residential and nonresidential construction employers want to hire even more workers.”
The 23,000 jobs added in the sector represented a 0.3% sequential increase from September. Overall, the construction sector has added 219,000 jobs in the past 12 months, including 55,600 jobs for residential building and specialty trade contractors.
According to the AGC, the unemployment rate among job seekers with construction experience was 4% in October, one of the lowest rates in the history of the data series. Additionally, the number of construction job openings at the end of September was at a record-high level of 438,000. The number of openings far exceeded the number of workers hired during the month, signaling a continued difficulty in finding qualified workers to keep pace with demand.
Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees in construction increased 5.4% over the year to $34.64 per hour. According to the AGC, construction firms in September provided a wage “premium” of nearly 19% compared with the average hourly earnings for all private-sector employees.
