Electrical Contractor - September 2017

I S T O C K / A - D I G I T

Construction Industry Adds
6,000 Jobs in July

ACCORDING TO AN EMPLOYMENT REPORT, released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics on Aug. 4, the construction industry added 6,000 new positions (seasonally adjusted) in July.

The increased employment is mild growth for the industry. Though it marks a three-month job growth streak, July’s gains trail behind the 16,000 new positions reported in June and the 11,000 reported in May. This pales in comparison to the job growth seen in the early months of this year, which peaked with 58,000 new jobs in February, the highest level since March 2007.

This growth is largely buoyed by residential construction, which added 7,200 new jobs in July, while the nonresidential sector (including heavy and civil engineering) dropped

1,700. This dynamic played out throughout several subsets of construction. Within building construction, residential work accounted for 5, 100 created jobs and nonresidential 400. Furthermore, specialty trade contractors saw an overall increase of 1,200 jobs— 2, 100 jobs created in residential work while 900 were lost in nonresidential.

The report revealed a slight increase in the unemployment rate
from 4. 5 percent in June to 4. 9 percent in July
and a variety of employment information that
has remained largely unchanged throughout
the year, including average weekly hours ( 39. 2),
average hourly pay ($28.90) and the percentage
of women on the job ( 12. 7 percent.)

Overall, the construction industry employed 6.899 million people in July—191,000 positions, or 2. 8 percent more than July 2016.

—HANNAH FULLMER

Text PLIERS to 313131 for your chance to win a Heavy-Duty Forged Steel Wire Stripper

Across the U.S. our forges blaze, our assembly lines run true, and our people continue to put six generations’ worth of expertise into every tool we create.

While Klein has grown with the global economy, we have never lost our commitment to the American Tradesmen who have trusted our tools for 160 years. AMERICAN JOBS | WORKERS | TOOLS