The construction industry had a record-high 438,000 job openings at the end of September, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America.
The unemployment rate of construction workers was 4.0% in October, among the lowest October rates in 24 years of data. The construction industry added 23,000 jobs in October, a 0.3% bump from September to total 8.0 million. Over the past 12 months the industry grew by 219,000 jobs, a 2.8% increase.
“Despite the fact pay for hourly craft workers in construction is rising faster than for production employees, contractors are still struggling to find enough skilled workers,” stated Ken Simonson, AGC’s chief economist. “Both residential and nonresidential construction employers want to hire even more workers.”
Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory construction employees climbed 5.4% year-over-year to $34.64.
The full AGC report can be found here.
