Construction sector employment saw an increase of 4,000 jobs in January, driven by gains in nonresidential construction, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. However, officials from the association warned that tightening labor market conditions could hinder future hiring efforts within the industry.
"The already tight labor market is getting tighter in the construction sector," stated Jeffrey Shoaf, the association's chief executive officer. "Absent new investments in construction training and work authorization programs, it will be hard for firms to keep pace with demand."
Nonresidential construction firms added 4,400 workers last month. This included an increase of 1,100 jobs in building construction and 5,600 positions in specialty trades. Conversely, heavy and civil engineering firms reduced their workforce by 2,300 jobs. In contrast, residential construction employment decreased by 200 positions overall despite a gain of 1,900 jobs in residential building.
Overall construction employment reached a seasonally adjusted total of 8,291,000 jobs in January. This marks an increase of 4,000 from December and a growth of 178,000 jobs or 2.2 percent over the past year. Nonresidential construction employment grew by 2.9% (137,800 jobs) over the past year but showed a slight slowdown compared to a previous increase of 3.1% (145,500 jobs). Residential construction saw a rise of 1.2% (40,100 jobs) from January last year.
A separate government report highlighted that there were 217,000 job openings at the end of December within the construction sector—a figure that has declined for five consecutive months and dropped by half compared to December of the previous year.
Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees in construction increased by 3.8 percent over the past year to $36.54 per hour. In comparison, overall private sector pay for production workers rose by 4.2 percent to $30.84 per hour.
The AGC's recent survey indicated that nearly four out of five firms are struggling to find enough workers to hire due to fears surrounding increased immigration enforcement activities affecting worker attendance on job sites.
"The only way firms will be able to keep pace with strong demand for construction is if there are enough people available to build," Shoaf emphasized. "That is why federal officials need to boost funding for construction education programs and expand lawful work authorization programs for people with construction skills."