By Associated Builders and Contractors
The construction industry lost 61,000 jobs on net in February, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. During the last ten months, the industry has added 805,000 jobs, recovering 72.3 percent of the jobs lost during the earlier stages of the pandemic.
Almost all of the job loss was in nonresidential construction, a segment in which employment declined by 60,800 jobs on net in February. Nonresidential specialty trade contractors and heavy and civil engineering both experienced significant job losses, losing 36,700 and 20,800 jobs, respectively. Nonresidential building lost 3,300 positions.
The construction unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent in February and is up 4.1 percentage points from the same time a year ago. Unemployment across all industries dropped slightly from 6.3 percent in January to 6.2 percent last month. (Source)