Construction employment added 11,000 jobs on net in April, according to Associated Builders and Contractors. On a year-over-year basis, the industry has expanded by 143,000 jobs—an increase of 1.7%.
The construction unemployment rate rose from 5.4% in March to 5.6% in April. The national unemployment rate for all industries was unchanged at 4.2% in April as the U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs.
Nonresidential construction added 8,000 jobs in April, with growth in two of the three subsectors. Nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 4,900 jobs, and nonresidential building added 3,600 jobs. Heavy and civil engineering lost 500 jobs.
“The construction industry added a perfectly acceptable 11,000 jobs in April,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Despite weak construction spending data for March and several economic headwinds, including high interest rates, tight lending standards and trade policy uncertainty, backlog remains sufficiently elevated to keep industry employment growing for the time being.
“That said, April is likely the last month of economic data largely unaffected by tariffs and tariff-related uncertainty,” Basu continued. “The reference period for today’s jobs report is the pay period through April 12, which may exclude staffing decisions, or project cancelations or delays, related to recent trade policy developments. While the economic outlook has worsened in recent weeks, it remains unclear how the economy will respond in the coming months. For now, contractors remain broadly optimistic, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, and industrywide staffing levels continue to expand.”
