Construction employment declined by 975,000 jobs in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The decline in construction jobs from March to April constituted nearly 13% of the industry’s employment and was by far the worst one-month decline ever, says Ken Simonson, chief economist for AGC of America.
Simonson reported that unemployment among workers with recent construction experience soared by 1.1 million from a year earlier, to 1,531,000, while the unemployment rate in construction jumped to 16.6% from 4.7% in April 2019.