Even in the midst of hurricane-related job losses, employment in the nonresidential specialty trade contractors sector was up by exactly 4.2% in October, according to new data just released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Overall, the construction industry posted roughly 8,000 new jobs in October, adding to what is now a 223,000 job increase since October of 2023.
The nonresidential building sector has now seen a 3.8% job growth in the last year, followed by residential building at 2.7%, and heavy and civil engineering at 2.6%. Further behind is the residential specialty trade contractors sector, with a more modest 0.8% increase.
In a statement, Ken Simonson, chief economist with the Associated General Contractors of America, noted that industry job gains occurred, “even though hurricanes in the Southeast probably dragged down hiring in previously fast-growing states.”
The job impact of hurricanes Helene and Milton was also referenced by Jared Bernstein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, who remarked in a press conference: “We know that there were two powerful forces leading to negative and temporary impacts on payroll growth.”
Those hurricanes, continued Bernstein, included “wide swaths therein, and the strikes.”
Even so, added Bernstein, “take out the distortions, the temporary distortions from these two forces, the U.S. economy remains solid as ever.”
Labor Department Acting Secretary Julie Su also pointed to two strikes by the International Longshoremen and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in reducing “employment growth by 41,000, temporarily impacting payrolls in industries like transportation equipment manufacturing.”
Altogether, nonfarm payrolls increased by 12,000 in October, down from 22,000 in September. The new gains were the smallest increases reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics since December of 2020.
The largest job gains were once again seen in the country’s government and health care industries, picking up 40,000 and 52,000 respectively. Manufacturing, meanwhile, was off by 49,000, with the leisure and hospitality industries down by about 4,000.
The nation’s unemployment rate, at the same time, is now at 4.1%. That rate has been in the 3.5% to 4.3% range since the fall of 2021.
November 4, 2024
By Garry Boulard
Photo Courtesy of Unsplash
