Residential construction jobs slowly return

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Real Estate

Following a strong showing in October, a somewhat disappointing U.S. jobs report released Friday shows that 210,000 non-farm jobs were added in November, bringing the unemployment rate down to 4.2%. While this is a 0.4% decrease in unemployment, the rate is still above the 3.5% unemployment rate recorded in February 2020, just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The construction sector added a total of 31,000 jobs in November, on par with the two prior months. Specialty contractors showed the largest gains with an increase of 13,000 jobs, while persons employed in construction of buildings, and civil and heavy engineering rose by 10,000 and 8,000 jobs, respectively.

“It was a strong month for construction,” First American deputy chief economist Odeta Kushi said in a statement. “We need more homes and in such a labor-intensive industry, you need more workers to build more homes.”

Of the 10,000 construction of buildings jobs created in November, 4,100 were in the residential sector. In the specialty trade contractor jobs sector, 6,200 were in residential construction. Despite these gains, the construction sector is still 115,000 jobs below its February 2020 level.

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