Nonresidential Construction Employment Fell While Expected to Rise in May

The U.S. Department of Labor released its employment report on June 6, stating that the U.S. construction industry added only 6,000 jobs in May.

At the same time, the nonresidential construction lost 500 jobs in May, which was in high contrast with the 12,600 jobs added in April.

On the other hand, the residential sector employed 3,300 new people for the same month, as did the heavy and civil engineering sector.

Industry experts say that, “Public construction expenditures remain incredibly constrained and private nonresidential construction spending declined in April, a reflection of an economy that actually shrank during the year’s initial months.”

An interesting fact remains that the national construction unemployment rate shrank to 8.6% in May. It actually happened when the industry added only 6,000 jobs, so the trend can be interpreted as yet another sign of the skilled labor shortage.

Expectations are that the this rate will stay pretty much at the same level in the following months.

Read the full story at Contractor