In May, the addition of 8,200 jobs in the residential construction sector helped counter-balance the loss of 6,200 commercial jobs. This overall increase of 2,000 jobs caused a slight decrease in the industry’s unemployment rate, which is now 16.3 percent. The Associated General Contractors of America provided the figures, which show very little growth in an industry that has been plagued by harsh job losses since 2007.
Ken Simpson, the association’s chief economist, estimates that the double-digit unemployment rates will be standard in the industry for years to come. Government cutbacks for infrastructure and construction projects are cited as a primary cause for the decline in nonresidential construction jobs. “There just isn’t enough demand for construction to fuel the kind of hiring needed to get industry employment back to where it was.” Simpson adds.
