Construction employment increased by 23,000 jobs in September following an increase of 23,000 jobs in August, reaching a 10-year high, according to www.agc.org.
The construction industry unemployment rate increased to 4.1 percent. The national unemployment rate for all industries fell to 3.7 percent.
The construction sector has added 315,000 net new jobs during the past 12 months, which is a 4.5 percent increase in the number of workers directly employed by the industry.
Hourly earnings in the industry averaged $30.18 in September, which is an increase of 3.1 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 2.8 percent during the past year to $27.24.
"The construction industry added workers and increased pay in the past year at rates higher than the overall economy," says Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America. "However, the pool of unemployed workers with construction experience has nearly evaporated, pushing up contractors' costs and adding to project completion times."
