The depressed housing market and growing weakness in the nonresidential and public works sectors is starting to have a major impact on labor markets. In November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that construction’s unemployment rate had soared to 12.7%. This marks a steady climb from 8.0% in July through 10.8% in October. The November 2008 unemployment rate is more than double last year’s rate and is way above the low of 4.5% record in November 2006. The current 12.7% unemployment rate means that in November 1.237 million blue- and white-collar workers were out of work. The unemployment rate traditionally goes up further in December.

Construction Unemployment
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Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Construction unemployment rate for November.
Construction Unemployment