Construction’s jobless rate climbed to its highest level in at least a decade, reaching 22.7% in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported. Economists say the slump in nonresidential building markets has overshadowed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s boost to the public-works sector. The latest BLS monthly figures, released on Jan. 8, show construction’s December unemployment rose from November’s 19.4% and also stood well above the December 2008 level of 15.3%.
The 22.7% rate is the industry’s highest since 2000, when BLS changed its system for classifying and defining industries, a spokesperson says. Construction’s previous post-2000 high was 21.4%, in February 2009. Under the pre-2000 BLS classification system, construction’s peak unemployment rate since 1948 was February 1983’s 27.3%. Construction’s jobless rates aren’t adjusted for seasonal variations.