Construction employment reached a 50-month high as employers added 11,000 jobs in October, the fifth consecutive month of job gains. The number of unemployed construction workers has declined by 712,000 over the past three years while construction firms have added just 323,000 new jobs, indicating a decline in the labor force caused by workers leaving the industry for other fields.

Construction employment totaled 5,834,000 in October, an increase of 185,000 from a year earlier and the fifth consecutive month of industry growth. Employment has reached the highest level since August 2009. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for workers actively looking for jobs and last employed in construction declined from 11.4 percent in October 2012 to nine percent last month, according to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC).

"After some very dramatic declines and years of sluggish growth, the construction industry is slowly adding jobs," said Ken Simonson, the AGC's chief economist. "The federal government shutdown did not appear to have undermined construction job growth in the short term probably because it did not significantly impact projects that were already underway."

Nonresidential construction firms added 6,600 new jobs in October while residential firms added 4,800 jobs. Within the nonresidential sector, heavy and civil engineering firms – which are most likely to perform federal construction work – added only 200 jobs. Declining public sector demand and not the federal shutdown likely caused the modest increase for that sector, Simonson noted.

The number of unemployed construction workers has declined at a faster rate than the industry has added jobs, as laid-off workers either retire or found work in other sectors, Simonson said. Many firms report they are having a hard time finding qualified workers to fill key positions on new projects. Construction employers are worried about finding enough qualified workers due to the limited number of career and technical education and training programs that exist, AGC officials said.

"While we have a long way to go before construction employment hits pre-recession levels, we need to take steps now to keep up with growing demand," said Stephen Sandherr, the AGC's chief executive officer. "The last thing we want is for the lack of qualified workers to undermine the sector's recovery."