Construction employment increased by 30,000 jobs in October following an increase of 23,000 jobs in September, according to www.agc.org.
The construction industry unemployment rate decreased to 3.6 percent. The national unemployment rate for all industries was unchanged at 3.7 percent.
The construction sector has added 330,000 net new jobs during the past 12 months and surpassed 7.3 million for the first time since April 2008.
Hourly earnings in the industry averaged $30.21 in October, which is an increase of 3.9 percent from a year earlier. Average hourly earnings in construction were 10.7 percent higher than the average for all nonfarm private-sector jobs, which rose 3.1 percent during the past year to $27.30.
"Job gains remain strong and well-balanced between residential and nonresidential construction," says Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America. "Contractors are raising pay faster than at any time since the recession to attract workers from other industries, as well as new entrants, yet many firms report they continue to have difficulty filling positions."
