Construction Adds December Jobs, Industry Unemployment High

Residential construction outpaced nonresidential construction in December, the former adding 18,100 jobs compared to 11,900 for the latter. Residential construction employment is now up by 29,800 jobs compared to 12 months ago, while nonresidential contractors are down 12,400 jobs since December 2011

Residential and nonresidential construction employers added 30,000 total jobs in December, the largest monthly increase in nearly two years, according to recent federal unemployment data.

The industry's unemployment rate, while improving, hit 13.5 percent and remains high, according to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Association officials noted that growing private sector demand for construction largely drove the gains.

Construction firms employed 5.564 million people in December, up from 5.534 million in November; the sector's overall employment in December, however, was only 18,000, or 0.3 percent, higher than one year earlier.

''Resurgent demand for new housing construction and modest growth in private commercial construction are helping create some new construction jobs,'' said Ken Simonson, the AGC's chief economist. ''Now that the threat of the fiscal cliff has been relieved (temporarily), construction employment should continue to slowly rise in 2013.''

The industry unemployment rate fell from 16 percent a year earlier, indicating that formerly unemployed construction workers are leaving the industry at a faster rate than they are being rehired.