ABC: Nonresidential Construction Maintains Hiring Momentum in July

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7-The construction industry added 22,000 jobs on net in July, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has increased by 82,000 jobs, an increase of 1.0%.

Nonresidential construction employment grew by 20,000 positions, with gains in all three subcategories. Nonresidential specialty trade added the most jobs, increasing by 15,400 positions. Nonresidential building and heavy and civil engineering added 4,200 and 400 jobs, respectively, in July.

The construction unemployment rate was 3.7% in July. Unemployment across all industries decreased to 4.1% and is 0.2 percentage points lower than one year ago.

"Nonresidential construction employment continued to expand at a healthy pace in July as the data center investment boom fuels ongoing demand for specialty trade contractors," said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. "Given recent construction spending data and upbeat contractor sentiment, as measured by ABC's Construction Confidence Index, this is not particularly surprising.

"Construction industry employment, however, is far from the most salient aspect of July's jobs report," said Basu. "Rather, the unexpected loss of economywide jobs in July-the first since February-and massive downward revisions to the prior two months of growth signal emerging labor market weakness. If this soft labor market persists, it will benefit the construction industry in the form of lower borrowing costs. Indeed, treasury yields fell sharply following the release of the July jobs numbers."