Nonresidential construction lost 7,700 jobs in December, according to the Jan. 8 report by the U.S. Department of Labor. After losing 105,300 jobs for the year, nonresidential construction employment stood at 698,200 in December.
The employment rate fell across the board with the nonresidential specialty trade contractors losing 8,800 jobs, bringing the segment’s total jobs loss for the year to 388,000. Heavy and Civil engineering lost 18,400 in December and 122,600 for the year.
“The employment report was particularly negative for the nonresidential construction sector,” said Anirban Basu, ABC chief economist. “Some of the job losses were due to unseasonably cold temperatures in certain parts of the nation in December. Of the 53,000 construction jobs lost in December, roughly half could be attributed to weather.
“Nevertheless, the construction jobs report remains consistent with the notion that the nation’s nonresidential construction industry sector remains mired in its own recession,” Basu noted.
Residential building construction lost 3,800 jobs in December and 98,000 year over year. The construction industry as a whole accounted for more than half of the net job loss in U.S. in December, down 53,000 jobs for the month and 934,000 for the year. Since the recession began in December 2007, the construction industry has lost 1.6 million jobs.
The economy lost 85,000 jobs in December following a revised gain of 4,000 jobs in November. The nation’s overall unemployment rate remains at 10 percent for December.
“Many economists believed that the U.S. economy would actually add jobs in December,” Basu said. “ Instead, the labor market was unable to sustain the momentum that had been building for several months, including in November when the nation added jobs for the first time since late 2007.”
To read the complete report, click
here.