US Construction Sector Employment Improves in August
Rebound for Construction Job Openings
A review of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), with a focus on residential construction and additional analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), reveals that the number of open construction sector jobs rebounded from a revised, soft reading of 232,000 in July to 370,000 in August.
NAHB notes that elements of the construction sector slowed in prior months as tight Fed policy persisted. However, with the August rebound for open construction sector jobs, the number of job openings is roughly flat compared to the year-prior estimate of 386,000.
The construction job openings rate also increased, rising to 4.3% in August after several weaker months.
The layoff rate in construction increased to 2.0% in August from 1.9% in July. The quits rate in construction decreased slightly to 2.1% from 2.2% in July.
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