
Construction Unemployment Rate Hits 27.1 Percent in February
March 5, 2010
The construction unemployment rate jumped to 27.1 percent and construction
employment dropped to a 14-year low as another 64,000 construction
workers lost jobs in February, according to federal employment figures
released today. According to the Associated General Contractors
of America, the economy would have added jobs had it not been for
the declines in construction employment for the third time in four
months.
"While the broader economy may be recovering, the construction
industry continues to decline at an alarming rate," says Ken
Simonson, the association's chief economist. "If these trends
don't change soon, millions of American families will continue to
suffer."
Simonson notes that the industry's job losses in February were consistent
with the prior six months and not mainly attributable to exceptionally
bad weather. He says construction unemployment is at the highest
level recorded since the federal government began making the data
available in 1976. He also notes that nonresidential construction
experienced significantly more job losses than the residential sector
in February--53,500 jobs lost versus 10,600.
Overall declines in construction activity, however, have cost 2.2
million construction workers their jobs since industry employment
peaked in June 2006, a 28-percent drop, according to Simonson. Construction
has accounted for 1,936,000 of the 8,425,000 nonfarm payroll job
losses since the recession began in December 2007, or 23 percent
of the total, even though the industry employs only 4.3 percent
of all workers, he says.
Simonson also says job losses appeared widespread across construction
sectors, with nonresidential specialty trade contractors experiencing
the largest monthly decline of 1.7 percent. He adds that even heavy
and civil engineering construction, the sector most likely to be
boosted by stimulus funded projects, experienced a 1.1 percent monthly
employment decline.
"The industry has gone from being a symptom of our economic
problems to a victim of them," says Stephen E. Sandherr, the
association's chief executive officer. He says that while the current
Jobs Bill prevents declines in federal highway funding, it does
little to boost overall infrastructure investments. "Until
we see meaningful increases in demand for new infrastructure and
private sector construction projects, our economy will continue
to suffer."
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