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Construction employment rates improved in 44 states and the nation in April on a year-over-year basis, according to analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released today by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). The not seasonally adjusted (NSA) construction unemployment rate of 6 percent was a 1.5 percent drop from April 2015, continuing a streak of consecutive monthly year-over-year rate declines that began in October 2010. National NSA employment in construction was 262,000 higher than in April 2015.
“Historically, April has been the month in which construction ramps up coming out of winter as the weather improves across the nation,” says economist Bernard M. Markstein, Ph.D., president and chief economist of Markstein Advisors, who conducted the analysis for ABC. “Since the start of the national NSA construction unemployment rate series in January 2000, every year the rate has declined in April from March. This year’s fall of 2.7 percent was no exception.”
All but one state, Hawaii, posted a decrease in its estimated construction unemployment rate from March. All but two states—Alaska and New Mexico—had construction unemployment rates under 10 percent.
A number of the states that experienced significant declines in their estimated construction unemployment rates from March tend to have cold, snowy winters and consequently see a significant rebound in construction activity and employment as temperatures warm, according to the report.
