Residential construction lost 8,600 jobs in June, even as the overall construction sector added 11,000 positions, according to the National Association of Home Builders' analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The month's gains came entirely from nonresidential construction, which added roughly 19,900 jobs. Residential construction employment now stands at 3.3 million, including 916,000 workers employed by home builders and remodelers and 2.4 million residential specialty trade contractors.
Over the past 12 months, residential construction has shed a net 48,800 jobs—the 16th consecutive month of annual decline and the longest stretch since the Great Recession, NAHB reported.
The construction unemployment rate climbed to 6.2% in June on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 5.2% in May and 3.7% in April. The second straight monthly increase marked the highest reading since July 2021, compared with 4.5% a year earlier—a sign, NAHB said, of continued softening in construction labor market conditions.
Read the full report here.
