The construction industry added 30,000 jobs in October, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).
The increase brought overall construction employment in the U.S. to more than 7.3 million for the first time since April 2008.
The industry has added 330,000 jobs since October 2017, a 4.7 percent increase.
“Job gains remain strong and well-balanced between residential and nonresidential construction,” AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson said in a statement. “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.”
Hourly earnings averaged $30.21 in the industry in October, a 3.9 percent increase from October 2017, and the steepest one-year rise since June 2009.
The industry has been suffering from a mass labor shortage that intensified during the Great Recession, when 1.5 million construction employees (19.8 percent of the labor force) left the industry.
The full AGC report can be viewed here.
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