Nonfarm payroll
employment fell 63,000 in February (seasonally adjusted), resulting in a
12-month increase of only 0.6%, the weakest growth in four years, the Bureau of
Labor Statistics recently reported.
Construction employment fell for the eighth straight month, by
39,000 to 7,401,000, down 222,000 (2.9%) from February 2007. Residential building
and specialty trade contractors shed 238,000 jobs (7.2%) compared to February
2007, while nonresidential building, specialty trade and heavy and civil
engineering contractors added 16,000 (0.4%), according to BLS. But as many as
400,000 “residential” specialty trade contractors appear to be doing
nonresidential work now, based on the drop in residential employment consistent
with the decline in residential spending as reported by the Census Bureau. If
these workers are added to nonresidential employment, the gain since February
2007 has been 416,000 jobs (9.6%).