Nonresidential is
flat in latest month, but up for year.
Seasonally adjusted “nonfarm
payroll employment was essentially
unchanged in January, at 138.1 million, as was the unemployment rate, at 4.9%,” new Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Commissioner Keith Hall stated today. “Construction employment decreased by
27,000 in January, with the decline concentrated among the residential
components. Construction has lost 284,000 jobs since its employment peak in
September 2006; the residential components [residential building and specialty
trade contractors] lost 315,000 jobs over that period.” In fact, the 20%
decrease in residential spending from December 2006 to December 2007 makes it
likely that residential employment actually fell about 20%, or 420,000 more
than BLS estimated. The difference reflects electricians, plumbers, wallboard
installers and other specialty trade contractors who are now working on
nonresidential jobs but whose firms entered the BLS database when they did
residential work. Adding those workers to the nonresidential total implies an
increase of 390,000 nonresidential jobs in the last year, or 8%, a gain
consistent with the 16% increase in nonresidential construction spending. A
possible harbinger of future growth in nonresidential activity was the 3.3%
rise in architectural and engineering
services jobs in the past year. Average
hourly earnings rose 3.7% for all private
nonfarm production or nonsupervisory employees and 3.6% for construction
workers.