Construction Unemployment Hits 9.4% in January

The unemployment rate in the construction industry reached 9.4% in January, up from 5.4% in January 2020, the Associated General Contractors of America reports. The construction unemployment rate in December 2020 was 9.6%. 

A total of 938,000 construction workers were unemployed in January, up from 515,000 during the same period last year. 

“Nonresidential construction has had a much weaker recovery than homebuilding and home improvement construction,” AGC stated. “While both parts of the industry had huge job losses in early 2020 from the pre-pandemic peak in February to April, residential building and specialty trade contractors have now recouped all of the employment losses they incurred.”

The full AGC report can be found here.