The construction unemployment rate fell to 6% in March. Unemployment across all industries declined from 3.8% in February to 3.6% last month.

“Contractors continue to signal that they are searching far and wide for additional workers,” said Anirban Basu, chief economist, ABC. “With more workers reentering the labor market, job openings continue to translate into employment growth. Given elevated backlog and the expectation that demand for services will remain high, according to ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator, construction employment is poised to grow further this year.

“Interestingly, the unemployment rate for construction workers is well above the economywide rate,” continued Basu. “This is at odds with the notion of a severe worker shortage facing construction. The issue relates to skill sets. While many refer to the current circumstances as a labor or worker shortage, it is perhaps more properly characterized as a skills shortage.

“With infrastructure spending set to rise and construction workers retiring at a rapid rate, skills shortages are likely to worsen going forward,” said Basu. “That translates into rapid wage growth. Given high and rising materials prices, project owners will continue to see elevated bids for construction service delivery, although how this will affect project postponements and cancellations remains unclear.”