Construction’s unemployment rate continued its long stretch of year-over-year improvement in February, falling to 8.7% from the year-earlier 10.6%, but the rate was slightly worse than January’s 8.5%, the Labor Dept. has reported.
The department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics also said in its monthly employment status report, released on March 4, that construction gained 19,000 jobs in February.
The industry’s unemployment rate has recorded a year-over-year decline in each month since September 2010, BLS figures show. The jobless rates aren’t adjusted for seasonal differences.
Nearly all industry segments added jobs last month, led by residential specialty trade contractors, whose workforce expanded by 13,800. Buildings construction picked up 6,400 jobs and the heavy-civil engineering sector added 700.
The only construction category to lose jobs in February was nonresidential specialty trade contractors, which shed 1,500 positions.
Architectural and engineering services, listed separately from construction, gained 5,500 jobs in February.
Construction economists point out that total construction employment has risen 4% in the last year, to more than 6.6 million.