The construction industry added 19,000 employees in September as it boosted wages for hourly workers at the fastest rate in 40 years, according to an Oct. 7 analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government data. AGC officials said that even with the pay raises, many contractors are still having a difficult time finding qualified workers to hire.
“Contractors are raising pay faster than other sectors and are hiring more workers,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “But job openings going into September were at record levels and the industry’s unemployment rate last month was close to an all-time low, suggesting that jobs will remain hard to fill.”
Total construction employment moved up by 19,000 employees to 7,719,000 in September, an increase of 292,000 or 3.9% from a year earlier. Nonresidential firms added 13,100 employees for the month, including 2,400 at general building contractors and 11,200 at nonresidential specialty trade contractors, while employment dipped by 500 employees at heavy and civil engineering construction firms. Residential specialty trade contractors added 6,500 employees but residential general contractors—homebuilders and multifamily building contractors—shed 100 workers.
Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees in construction—craft and office workers—increased 6.7% from September 2021 to last month, the largest gain in 40 years, the economist noted. That outpaced the 5.8% increase for the overall private sector.
There were 437,000 construction industry job openings at the end of August, an increase of 47,000 or 12% from a year earlier. The figure is the largest August total since that series began in 2000, Simonson added, citing government data released on Tuesday.
The unemployment rate among jobseekers with construction experience declined from 4.5% in September 2021 to 3.4% last month, close to the all-time low in the 23-year history of the data, the economist observed. The number of unemployed construction workers fell from a year earlier by 98,000 or 22% to 346,000, suggesting there are few experienced jobseekers left to hire.
