Residential Construction Employment Now Higher Than 2019

As unemployment dropped to 6.9% in October with the addition of 638,000 new jobs, residential construction employment also filled more vacant roles and hit the first year-over-year gain since the pandemic came to town. Compared to one year ago, residential construction employment is 11,500 higher and advanced by 23,800 in October alone. There are now 2.9 million total employed for residential, and for the total construction industry, employment hit 7.3 million. When the pandemic first hit, 22.2 million jobs were lost and roughly 12.1 million jobs have since been created.

In October, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 638,000, reported in the Employment Situation Summary. It marks the sixth consecutive month of increases. After four consecutive months above one-million gain, job gains decelerated in September and October. The previous two months’ gains were revised higher. The August increase was revised up by 4,000 from 1,489,000 to 1,493,000, and the September increase was revised up by 11,000 from 661,000 to 672,000.

After the economy lost 22.2 million jobs in March and April due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to contain it, about 12.1 million jobs have been created in the past six months, indicating the economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic gradually. In October, total nonfarm employment was 10.1 million lower than its February level.

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