April 8, 2009

U.S. construction industry loses 120,000 jobs in March 2009

Richard Gilbert

staff writer

Construction employment in the U.S. declined by more than 120,000 last month, as the industry leads the country in unemployment.

A report released by the U.S Bureau of Labour Statistics early this month said the total number of jobs lost in March was 663,000.

The loss in February reached 651,000, while January’s loss was revised significantly higher to 741,000 from 655,000.

This brings the number of jobs lost since the downturn in the U.S. labour market in January 2008 to five million.

The construction industry lost 126,000 jobs in March, with declines occurring throughout the industry.

Employment in construction has fallen by 1.3 million since peaking in January 2007 and nearly half of this decline occurred over the last five months

“In March, employment fell in specialty trade contractors (83,000) and construction of buildings (33,000),” said the report.

“These declines were split about evenly between the residential and nonresidential portions of these industries. Heavy and civil engineering construction also lost 10,000 jobs.”

The seasonally adjusted total for construction job losses over the past 12 months is 928,000. March job losses pushed the unemployment rate up to 8.5 per cent from 8.1 last month.

The Associated General Contractors (AGC) said the report is a dire reminder of the unprecedented economic challenges facing millions of construction workers nationwide.

“Even though construction accounts for only five percent of the workforce, construction layoffs now account for almost 20 percent of total job losses this past year” said Ken Simonson, chief economist for the AGC.

“With construction unemployment at 21.1 percent, not seasonally adjusted, compared to 8.5 percent seasonally adjusted for the entire nonfarm economy, the industry suffers the dubious distinction of having the highest unemployment rate of any sector.”

This year, the construction unemployment rate has shot up 9.1 percent.

The numbers reveal a struggling industry.

“Getting as much work started as quickly as possible is the best way to get unemployed construction workers back on the job,” said Simonson.

An economist said the report is a brutal reminder of the pace of deterioration in U.S. labour market.

“Indeed, with the U.S. economy expected to weaken even further there is every indication that labour markets conditions will continue to worsen, though the pace of deterioration is likely to abate in the coming months” said TD Securities economics strategist Millan Mulraine, adding that the unemployment rate will rise even higher.

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