US: Construction unemployment at 17.3 percent

US: Construction unemployment at 17.3 percent

Laura Clapper
Constructiondigital.com
Sun Aug 8, 2010

The United States Department of Labor released July employment figures on Friday. "This past July, the economy gained 71,000 jobs in the private sector,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, in a statement. “Overall, employment declined by 131,000, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent. This year we've seen the creation of 630,000 private sector jobs – steady growth averaging 90,000 new private sector jobs each month, which tracks closely with what the Council of Economic Advisors had predicted earlier this year.

Despite this news, the construction industry is losing jobs. According to data from the Department of Labor, construction jobs are at its lowest level in over 14 years. In July alone, the economy lost 11,000 construction jobs. Over 1.5 million construction workers are out of work, creating an unemployment rate of 17.3 percent.

In response to this depressing news, Terry O’Sullivan, the General President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) issued the following statement:

“Even in a bad economy, construction workers can usually count on a summer surge to provide desperately needed work. Yet in July our nation shed another 11,000 construction jobs and employment in the industry fell to its lowest level in 14 years.

“By investing in the basics of our country – starting with a serious commitment to reauthorize the single biggest piece job creating legislation, a Surface Transportation Bill – we can get our economy moving again while leaving behind real assets for taxpayers and the next generation.

“Our country has tremendous work to do if we are to restore and strengthen our ability to compete in the world. And our nation has hundreds of thousands of men and women who are ready, willing and able to do the work. It’s time to match the two.”

Source: US Department of Labor/ LIUNA

Construction was hit hard here too, and consequently, archaeology work due to the quantity of redevelopment work scheduled and the laws regarding redevelopment in terms of archaeological investigation.

After finishing my MA in September, I applied for loads of excavation jobs but managed to get only one two week contract. Many units went bust meaning that people who were running their own excavations before were applying for basic digging jobs. Naturally, I had no chance.

Not surprising. Less people are working so less taxes are paid, more people need gov't aid so more taxes go into helping out those in need. There's simply no money for construction. Except for here in Lexington where they've been building, fixing and stuff for over a year now in preparation for the World Equestrian Games. Traffic has been killer with all that construction going on.