Construction employment, despite persistent industry job openings across the country, reached a new high in February of 7.9 million workers.
According to just-released figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the industry saw an increase of more than 24,000 new jobs between January and February of this year. Compared to where things stood in February of 2022, jobs are now up by 249,000.
By sector, residential construction saw an increase of 12,400 jobs in February; with nonresidential construction, which includes building, civil engineering and specialty trade firms, up by 11,600.
As the job numbers have improved, so has the pay, according to an analysis published by the Associated General Contractors of America. The average hourly earnings for nonsupervisory and production employees has increased by 6.1% over this same time period a year ago, for a total of $33.57 per hour. Similarly, overall wages for construction workers in general were up by 18.1% in February, for an hourly wage of $28.42.
For all jobs in all industries, the BLS showed that employment was up by 311,000 in February. That figure was lower than the explosive gain of 504,000 in January, but substantially higher than the average of 311,000 new jobs for the period of August to December last year.
By Garry Boulard
