Construction Employment Falls by Historic 975,000 Jobs in April

The construction industry shed nearly 13% of its workforce in April with the loss of 975,000 jobs, the highest one-month construction employment drop on record, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).

As the industry continues to deal with the economic fallout created by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, unemployment among those in the industry also shot up to 16.6% during the month, a jump from April 2019’s employment rate of 4.7%.

“Without new federal help, it’s hard to see a scenario where the construction industry will be able to recover any time soon,” AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson said in a statement.

An AGC survey found that 30% of construction firms reported projects were halted by a government order, while 37% reported they had voluntarily halted work due to the pandemic.

The full AGC report can be found here.