Construction Adds Workers, But Project Cancellations Stall Jobs
The pandemic prompts a strong demand for housing, but undermines demand for most types of nonresidential projects.
Construction employment increased by 26,000 jobs in September to a total of 7,245,000, but the gains were concentrated in housing, while employment in the infrastructure and nonresidential building construction sector remained little changed, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released today. Association officials said the pandemic was prompting strong demand for new housing as more Americans work from home, while undermining private-sector development of office, retail and other types of projects and forcing many local and state governments to cut construction budgets.
“Construction is becoming steadily more split between a robust residential component and generally stagnant private nonresidential and public construction activity,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, noting that in the three months since June, residential construction employment has increased nearly 3 percent while nonresidential employment has slipped 0.2 percent. “As project cancellations mount, so too will job losses on the nonresidential side unless the federal government provides funding for infrastructure and relief for contractors.”