Construction employment increased by 110,000 jobs in March, according to www.abc.org. The industry has added 931,000 jobs since April 2020, recovering 83.6% of the jobs lost since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The construction unemployment rate fell from 9.6% in February to 8.6% in March—an increase of 1.7 percentage points compared with the same time last year. The national unemployment rate for all industries fell from 6.2% in February to 6% in March as the U.S. economy added 916,000 jobs.
A significant portion of the job growth was in nonresidential construction, which added 73,100 jobs on net in March. Nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 38,200 jobs on net; heavy and civil engineering added 27,300 jobs on net; and nonresidential building added 7,600 jobs on net.
Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu said a “tsunami of economic and employment growth” throughout the U.S. is coming.
“Much of the stimulus to come will directly affect construction, particularly the heavy and civil engineering segment,” Basu said. “While any infrastructure stimulus should be geared toward projects generating the highest rates of return and open to bids by all competent contractors, the sheer volume of money flowing into the economy is set to create massive forward momentum for the balance of 2021 and likely through 2022. Contractor optimism seems to reflect this building momentum, according to the latest ABC Construction Confidence Index.
“As always, there are risks,” Basu continued. “The federal government is borrowing heavily to stimulate the economy. Inflationary pressures are likely to become more apparent during the months ahead, translating into rising interest rates. Already, key construction inputs such as softwood lumber and diesel fuel have experienced sharp price increases over the course of the pandemic. At some point in the future, the U.S. economy could see not only faltering stimulus, a massive national debt and higher costs of capital, but also higher taxes. That does not represent a promising recipe for contractor health. For now, however, it is all systems go.”
