Construction Employment Grows in October Despite Hurricane-Skewed Data

WASHINGTON, DC — The construction industry added 8,000 jobs on net in October, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has grown by 223,000 jobs, an increase of 2.8%.  

Nonresidential construction employment increased by 13,500 positions on net, with growth in two of the three subcategories. Nonresidential specialty trade added the most jobs, increasing by 14,300 positions. Nonresidential building added just 300 jobs, while heavy and civil engineering lost 1,100 jobs last month.

The construction unemployment rate rose to 4.2% in October. Unemployment across all industries remained unchanged at 4.1% in October.

“October’s employment report was severely distorted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “As a result, employers across all industries were estimated to have added just 12,000 jobs, the fewest in any month since the economy lost jobs in December 2020. Importantly, the separate survey that produces the unemployment rate was not affected by the storms and indicates that the jobless rate remained stable at 4.1% in October.

“Despite the underwhelming and heavily distorted economywide data, this jobs report indicates that the construction industry added jobs for the fifth straight month,” said Basu. “Over the past year, the construction sector has added jobs at exactly twice the rate of the broader economy, and growth has been even faster in the nonresidential segment. With contractors on net expecting their staffing levels to increase over the next two quarters, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, it appears likely that industry payrolls will continue to expand through at least the early months of 2025.”

Visit abc.org/economics for the Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index, plus analysis of spending, employment, job openings and the Producer Price Index.