Workforce

Construction March Jobless Rate Falls as Industry Adds 19,000 Jobs

Construction's unemployment rate continues to head in a positive direction, improving to 11.3% in March from February's 12.8% as the industry gained 19,000 jobs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest monthly employment report, released on April 4, also showed that construction's jobless rate last month was markedly better than its March 2013 level of 14.7%.

Those rates are not adjusted for seasonal variations. Construction is highly seasonal and its workforce tends to grow in the spring and summer months.

All construction-industry sectors added jobs in March, led by specialty trade contractors, which picked up 10,500. Buildings construction gained 5,300 and the heavy-civil engineering segment added 3,200.

Architectural and engineering services, a separate BLS industry category, gained 5,100 jobs last month.

The nation's overall March jobless rate was 6.7%, the same as February's, as the economy added 192,000 jobs, BLS reported.

As ENR's former Washington Bureau Chief, Tom Ichniowski wrote about the federal government since the George H.W. Bush administration, and 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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