September's unemployment rate was 3.9 percent, down from August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The construction industry also gained 30,000 jobs; the unemployment rate for construction workers fell to 6.4 percent.

BLS reports that of the almost 7 million workers employed in the industry, 64 percent or 4.5 million work in the specialty sector of the industry, outpacing the numbers in general building firms (1.5 million or 22 percent) and heavy construction (960,000 or 14 percent). Average hourly pay of production/non-supervisory construction workers was $18.19, up from $18.05 in August.