National Construction Employment

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Construction employment inched down by 2,000 to 5,551,000, following similar dips of 3,000 in March and 1,000 in February. The April total was 63,000 (1.1%) higher than in April 2011 but 1,000 lower than in April 2010.



The unemployment rate for former construction workers fell to the lowest April level in four years—14.5% (1,156,000 workers), not seasonally adjusted, from 17.8% (1,501,000 workers) in April 2011 and 1,919,000 (21.8%) in April 2010. (BLS does not provide seasonally adjusted rates by industry; unadjusted rates can be compared with the same month in earlier years but not with other months.) The two-year drop in unemployment while construction employment remained virtually level implies that workers are being hired into other industries or are retiring, returning to school or quitting the labor force rather than waiting for rehiring by contractors. Architectural and engineering services employment, a harbinger of future demand for construction, climbed for the sixth straight month, to the highest level since May 2009.