{"id":36092,"date":"2023-02-17T09:46:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T14:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?p=36092"},"modified":"2023-02-17T09:46:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T14:46:21","slug":"report-construction-firms-added-workers-in-december-unemployment-rate-dropped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/02\/report-construction-firms-added-workers-in-december-unemployment-rate-dropped\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Construction Firms Added Workers In December, Unemployment Rate Dropped"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Construction firms added 28,000 employees in December and continued to raise wages for hourly workers more than other sectors as the industry\u2019s unemployment rate fell to a record low for the month, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government data.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Association officials said the data align with their newly released survey, which found the majority of contractors are optimistic about demand for most construction types, despite reporting difficulty filling positions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are more people working in construction today than ever before, and those figures are likely to continue to increase,\u201d said Ken Simonson, the association\u2019s chief economist. \u201cBut as optimistic as contractors are about 2023, they remain worried about their ability to find enough workers amid record-low unemployment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Construction employment totaled a record 7,777,000, seasonally adjusted, in December, an increase of 231,000 or 3.1 percent from a year earlier. Nonresidential firms\u2014comprising nonresidential building and specialty trade contractors along with heavy and civil engineering construction firms\u2014added 17,900 employees in December. Residential building and specialty trade contractors together added 9,500 employees.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"s2\"><!--more--><\/span><\/span>Pay levels in the construction industry continued to increase in December at a faster pace than in the overall private sector. Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers in construction\u2014mostly hourly craft workers\u2014climbed by 6.1 percent, from $31.25 in December 2021 to $33.15 last month. That increase exceeded the 5.0 percent rise in average pay for all private sector production workers. Such workers in construction now earn an average of 18.1 percent more per hour than in the private sector as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>The unemployment rate among jobseekers with construction experience declined from 5.0 percent in December 2021 to 4.4 percent last month, while the number of unemployed construction workers fell by 11 percent, from 497,000 in December 2021 to 443,000. Last month\u2019s figures were the lowest ever for December.<\/p>\n<p>Simonson noted that the association\u2019s 2023 Construction Hiring &amp; Business Outlook survey, conducted with Sage, found 69 percent of the more than 1,000 responding construction firms expect to increase their headcount in 2023, compared to 11 percent that expect a decrease. However, 80 percent of firms report having a hard time filling positions, compared to only 8 percent that report no difficulty.<\/p>\n<p>Association officials urged Congress and the Biden administration to work on immigration reform measures that will allow more people with construction experience to legally enter the country and work in the sector.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>They also urged officials to close a federal funding gap that currently invests $5 in students planning to attend college for every dollar it invests in preparing students for high paying careers in sectors like construction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsidering where federal officials put their money, it is no surprise that contractors are having a hard time finding workers to hire,\u201d said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association\u2019s chief executive officer. \u201cAs much as they talk about rebuilding our economy, federal officials still don\u2019t seem ready to invest in the people needed to do all that building.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Construction firms added 28,000 employees in December and continued to raise wages for hourly workers more than other sectors as the industry\u2019s unemployment rate fell to a record low for the month, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government data.\u00a0 Association officials said the data align with their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Report: Construction Firms Added Workers In December, Unemployment Rate Dropped - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/02\/report-construction-firms-added-workers-in-december-unemployment-rate-dropped\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Report: Construction Firms Added Workers In December, Unemployment Rate Dropped - Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Construction firms added 28,000 employees in December and continued to raise wages for hourly workers more than other sectors as the industry\u2019s unemployment rate fell to a record low for the month, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government data.\u00a0 Association officials said the data align with their [&hellip;]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/02\/report-construction-firms-added-workers-in-december-unemployment-rate-dropped\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-17T14:46:21+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jake Van Ness\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jake Van Ness\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/02\/report-construction-firms-added-workers-in-december-unemployment-rate-dropped\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/02\/report-construction-firms-added-workers-in-december-unemployment-rate-dropped\/\",\"name\":\"Report: Construction Firms Added Workers In December, Unemployment Rate Dropped - 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