The trend contrasts with overall contraction in U.S. employment for the month, as the residential sector leads the way.

By Robert Isler

The construction industry continued to add jobs in December, bucking the national trend that saw U.S. jobs contracting for the first time since May 2020. A total of 51,000 construction jobs were added for the month. However, employment is still 226,000 below the pre-pandemic levels of February 2020.

Many subgroups within construction enjoyed job growth. Residential specialty trade contractors (+14,000) and residential building employees (+9,000) recouped enough jobs to bring them back to March/April levels. Non-residential specialty trade contractors (+18,000) and heavy and civil engineering construction (+15,000) also exhibited employment gains for the month.

Still, there is a clear divergence for construction employment when the residential and non-residential sectors are compared. The job gains from May through December in residential have more than offset the losses experienced in March and April. Specifically, 472,500 residential construction jobs were created over the past eight months, higher than the 456,800 lost in the March/April period. In contrast, nearly 40% of jobs lost in non-residential have not yet returned.

Overall unemployment trends in construction are similar to those of other industries. In other words, although far off their worst levels, they remain well above the same period last year. The December 2020 figure for construction stands at 9.6% compared with 5% for December 2019. The falloff, as explained earlier, is almost entirely due to the non-residential sector and is largely related to the effects of COVID-19. As more people work from home, there isn’t an urgency for new commercial construction. Much of this is geographic in nature, as the pandemic has caused people to migrate from large, congested cities, reducing the need for commercial construction in those areas.

Average weekly hours worked within the construction industry has consistently been around 39. This has remained essentially unchanged from a year ago. Average hourly pay has been edging up. In December 2019, it stood at $31.15. By December 2020, it reached $32.02. Average weekly pay during the same period grew from $1,215 to $1,252.

The latest construction industry data available on job openings is for November 2020. It remains steady at 3.1% or 236,000 open positions. This is higher than the 215,000 for the year-ago period, which is evidence of the sector’s expansion and continued need for skilled labor.