The construction industry employed more than six million workers in May for the first time since June 2009, driving unemployment to 8.6 percent, the lowest May level in six years. Six thousand workers were added from April to May, marking the five months of uninterrupted employment gains.

Construction employers added 6,000 workers to payrolls in May as the industry's unemployment rate dropped from 10.8 percent a year earlier to 8.6 percent, its lowest May level in six years. Residential construction employers added 3,300 jobs in May, and nonresidential construction firms added 2,700.

Construction employment reached 6,004,000 in May, the largest total workforce since June 2009 and an increase of 188,000 jobs, or 3.2 percent, from a year earlier. Residential construction employers added 105,600 jobs (4.9 percent) since May 2013, and nonresidential firms have added 82,000 jobs (2.2 percent) over the same period, according to the Associated General Contractors of America's (AGC) June 6 report on federal jobs data.

The unemployment rate for construction workers had fallen by more than half since May 2010, when it reached 20.1 percent; during that time, the number of unemployed workers who last worked in construction declined by more than one million, but industry employment increased by only 480,000. The industry's meager growth has prompted the AGC to urge Congress and the Obama administration to find a way to keep the federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) from running short of money, as forecast, later this summer.

"Even with five straight months of construction employment gains, the industry remains vulnerable to sudden shifts in demand," AGC chief economist Ken Simonson said in a statement. "Unless lawmakers act in the next few weeks to head off an expected disruption in highway funding, the sudden loss of billions of dollars
worth of demand would cost many construction workers, as well as workers from other segments of the
economy, their jobs."

AGC officials cautioned that disrupting HTF payments would force many states to halt or cancel billions of dollars worth of highway projects during the middle of the busy construction season, adding that more than 8,000 construction employees have already contacted Congressional delegations from 48 states to urge their support for a funding fix.