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The Current State of Construction Employment
The recent summary of the employment situation in the United States by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed that the construction industry added 18,000 workers in January. That’s a pretty good way to start the new year! These numbers may not seem that impressive since the industry added close to 250,000 jobs in the last quarter of 2015. But this growth in construction employment occurred during the same period of time when the industry’s unemployment rate fell to a 17-year low of 8.5 percent.
Growth in the industry is attributed to residential construction because the growth of nonresidential construction has been flat or on the decrease since this summer. The hope is that the nonresidential construction sector is only experiencing a temporary slowdown and will pick up in the coming months. Reports say that spending in the construction industry is expected to grow by 8-9% this year. This should spark a growth in employment in the construction industry and promote more spending in the nonresidential sector.
What Can be Done?
Even though the growth rate of added jobs in the industry is a good sign, the rate still isn’t where industry leaders would like it to be. Compared to this time last year, there is a significant decline in the numbers of employees in the industry. Nothing can be determined yet as to why the numbers aren’t as high as they have been in past years. Some say the cause may be that construction firms are running out of people to hire.
Construction firms that choose to use staffing solutions can rely on a qualified labor pool to choose from if they experience a slowdown in hiring. This is a great way to keep workers and make sure that you have enough help on the job site.
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