US Construction Employment Reaches 8.36 Million as Unemployment Hits 3.1% on Data Center Demand
Updated
Updated · Construction Citizen · Sep 13
US Construction Employment Reaches 8.36 Million as Unemployment Hits 3.1% on Data Center Demand
1 articles · Updated · Construction Citizen · Sep 13
Summary
8.359 million construction workers were employed in August, up 22,000 from July and 120,000 from a year earlier, while unemployment for workers with recent construction experience fell to a 26-year low of 3.1%.
28% of surveyed firms said they worked on a data center project in the past year, and 60% of those firms added workers versus 36% of firms without data center work, according to AGC’s survey of 1,830 member firms.
87% to 90% of firms still reported trouble filling salaried or craft openings, with AGC also citing immigration enforcement as a drag on labor availability; construction average hourly earnings rose 5.0% year over year to $39.36.
326,000 construction job openings remained at the end of July, up 6.9% from a year earlier, even as July construction spending fell 3.8% year over year; data-center spending jumped 57% while manufacturing dropped 22%.