Construction jobs in July totaled 5,793,000, seasonally adjusted, up by 166,000 or 3.0 percent from July 2012 but down by 6,000 from the revised June level. The number of unemployed workers with construction experience was the lowest July total since 2007, while the unemployment rate was the lowest since 2008.

The unemployment rate for construction workers fell to the lowest July level in five years last month, declining to 9.1 percent from 12.3 percent in July 2012.

The unemployment rate for workers who last worked in construction and the number of unemployed construction workers dropped by 227,000 to 767,000, even though employment has stagnated in the past four months, according the Associated General Contractors of America.

"Although the unemployment rate for experienced construction workers came down to 9.1 percent in July, many of those workers have left the industry for other jobs, school or training programs, or retirement," said Ken Simonson, the AGC's chief economist. "While the industry has added workers in the past year, employment growth has been negligible recently."

Although both residential and nonresidential contractors have added workers in the past year, employment growth in July occurred only on the residential side.

Residential building and specialty trade contractors added 6,300 employees in July and 92,100 (4.5 percent of the workforce) over 12 months. Nonresidential building, specialty trade and heavy and civil engineering construction firms lost 11,500 workers in June but added 74,300 (2.1 percent) from a year earlier. Architectural and engineering services employment rose by 2.3 percent over the year, suggesting further gains – albeit modest ones – are in the industry's future.

"The tilt in hiring toward residential construction and the recent flattening of overall industry employment fit with the Census Bureau [report] on construction spending through June," Simonson said. "Those figures showed strong year-over-year growth in residential construction, little change in private nonresidential and worsening declines in public construction. These patterns, along with the slow growth in design industry employment, suggest that contractors will remain cautious about adding workers this year."