Construction Industry's Unemployment Rate Declining
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 the job losses last month in construction's buildings and non-residential specialty-trades sectors outweighed the gains in the heavy-civil and residential specialty-trades segments. Architectural and engineering services added 7,400 jobs in April.