Construction employment grew by 23,000 jobs in October, according to the Associated General Contractors of America, with officials suggesting even more workers would have been hired if they were available.
“Despite the fact pay for hourly craft workers in construction is rising faster than for production employees, contractors are still struggling to find enough skilled workers,” said Ken Simonson, chief economist, in a statement. “Both residential and nonresidential construction employers want to hire even more workers.”
Construction employment in October totaled 8,033,000, seasonally adjusted, an increase of 23,000 or 0.3% from September. The sector has added 219,000 jobs during the past 12 months, a gain of 2.8%. Residential building and specialty trade contractors added 13,700 employees in October and 55,600 (1.7%) over 12 months. Employment at nonresidential construction firms—nonresidential building and specialty trade contractors along with heavy and civil engineering construction firms—climbed by 8,400 positions for the month and 163,300 (3.6%) since October 2022.
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The unemployment rate among jobseekers with construction experience was 4.0% in October, one of the lowest October rates in the 24-year history of the data. A separate government report released earlier this week reported that there were a record-high 438,000 job openings in construction at the end of September, far exceeding the number hired that month and a further sign of contractors’ difficulty in finding qualified workers.
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“While contractors’ demand for labor remains robust, the rising cost of labor, pushed upward by worker shortages, remains a pressing issue for the industry,” said Anirban Basu, chief economist for Associated Builders and Contractors, in a statement. “Average hourly earnings for construction workers increased at over twice the rate of economywide wages in October and have risen significantly faster over the past 12 months. With over half of contractors intending to increase their staffing levels over the next six months and fewer than 7% intending to downsize, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, labor shortages should continue to push wages higher over the next few quarters.”
