The construction industry added 20,000 jobs in July, the Associated General Contractors of America reports.
The gains were limited to housing, as employment related to infrastructure and nonresidential building construction declined by 4,000 during the month.
“It is likely that many nonresidential jobs are in jeopardy following the completion of emergency projects and ones begun before the pandemic,” AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson said in a statement. “Projects that had been scheduled to start this summer or later are being canceled by both public agencies and private owners, while few new facilities are breaking ground.”
The construction industry’s unemployment rate in July was 8.9 percent, with 870,000 former construction workers out of work, more than double the construction unemployment rate in July 2019, according to AGC.
The full AGC report can be found here.
