Construction's unemployment rate dropped sharply in April, to 14.5% from 17.2% in March, although the industry shed 2,000 jobs. Last month's construction jobless rate also was far below the April 2011 level of 17.8%, continuing a long string of year-over-year declines.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest monthly report on employment trends, released on May 4, showed that the job losses last month in construction's buildings and nonresidential specialty trades sectors outweighed the gains in the heavy-civil and residential specialty trades segments.
The picture improved for architectural and engineering services, which added 7,400 jobs in April. BLS lists A/E services separately from construction.
Ken Simonson, Associated General Contractors chief economist, said, "The plunge in the unemployment rate for former construction workers from 17.8% in April 2011 and 21.8% two years ago is good news for them." But he added, "Unfortunately, few of them have found jobs in construction, which actually employed 1,000 fewer workers than it did in April 2010."