WASHINGTON — In September, not seasonally adjusted (NSA) construction unemployment rates improved in 32 states and in the nation on a year-over-year basis, according to analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. (ABC). The national NSA construction unemployment rate of 5.2 percent was 0.3 percent lower than a year ago, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
This was the lowest September construction unemployment rate since 2000, when it was 4.6 percent. BLS data also reported that the industry employed 208,000 more people than it did in September 2015.

“September 2016 marks the sixth year of uninterrupted monthly year-over-year rate decreases in the national construction unemployment rate that began in October 2010,” said Bernard M. Markstein, Ph.D., president and chief economist, Markstein Advisors, who conducted the analysis for ABC. “These industry-specific unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted, so it is important to note states’ performance on a year-ago basis. The year-over-year improvement in the national unemployment rate, as well as in the rates of 32 states, demonstrates the steady improvement in the construction job market over the past year.”

Like August, the historical pattern for change in the national NSA construction unemployment rate from the month before is ambiguous. Starting in 2000, when the BLS data for this series began, and through 2015, the change in the September rate from August has fallen eight times, risen seven times, and has been unchanged once. This year’s September increase of 0.1 percent adds an eighth year that the rate has risen from August.

Publication date: 12/19/2016

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