Construction Unemployment Rate Dips In March

Construction's jobless rate continues to show a positive trend, improving to 20% in March from February's 21.8% rate. Though last month's mark remains worrisomely high, it was much better than March 2010's 24.9%.

March also was the sixth consecutive month in which construction's jobless rate improved over the year-earlier levels.

But the Bureau of Labor Statistics latest monthly employment report, released on April 1, also shows that construction lost 1,000 jobs last month.

All of construction jobs shed were in the residential specialty trade contractors segment, which posted 8,000 positions lost.

That offset gains in all other construction sectors, including pickups of 3,200 in buildings construction and 2,400 in heavy-civil.

Another encouraging note was that architectural and engineering services jobs continued to rise, though slightly, with a gain of 5,200 in March, bringing total A/E jobs to 1.29 million.

BLS does not adjust unemployment rates for construction and other industries for seasonal swings. Rates for the highly seasonal construction industry are thus at their worst in the winter and then tend to improve as projects gear up in the spring.

Despite the modestly positive March numbers, construction's 20% unemployment rate remains by far the highest among major industries.

The overall national unemployment rate also improved a little in March, declining to 8.8% from February's 8.9%.

Construction Unemployment Rate
2011
Month	Rate in %
March	20.0
February	21.8
January	22.5
2010
December	20.7
November	18.8
October	17.3
September	17.2
August	17.0
July	17.3
June	20.1
May	20.1
April	21.8
March	24.9
February	27.1
January	24.7
Note: Rates are not seasonally adjusted. Source: U.S. Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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