In May 2015, the good news about employment kept on rolling in, especially in the construction sector. According to Time Magazine, the overall U.S. economy added 223,000 new jobs in April 2015 and that number was continue to escalate into May. This number is 3,000 more than economists expected and shows that the labor market is starting to rebound. To get a feel for just how much the labor market is recovering, one only needs to look as far as the construction industry.
Employment is looking up in the construction industry.
Best Numbers In A Decade
According to the Associated General Contractors of America, the overall construction unemployment rate fell to 6.7 percent in May 2015. That is the lowest May unemployment rate since May 2006, which follows the general trend of job recovery throughout the country.
The numbers show that 17,000 construction jobs were added in May 2015, which brings the total number of jobs added for the past 12 months up to 273,000. Overall, the construction industry boasts a healthy employment number of 6,387,000 workers. In May 2014, the overall construction employment number was 6,114,000 and that number was also showing significant improvement over the previous few years.
More Jobs All Around
There were increases in residential and nonresidential construction employment for May 2015, which indicates another month of universal employment increases throughout the industry. The current unemployment number for registered construction workers in the United States is 569,000. According to the AGCA, that unemployment number has not been that low since May 2005.
An interesting fact about the addition of construction jobs is that while residential contractors added 1,800 jobs from April 2015 to May 2015, specialty contractors added 6,700 jobs during the same period. Industry observers are encouraged by the significant addition of higher paying construction jobs for the month of May 2015 and hope that the trend continues.
Learn some new skills and advance your construction career today.
Bumps Ahead?
A concern in the construction industry continues to be the depletion of the Federal Highway Construction Fund. To this point, neither the president nor congress has offered any solution to help fortify a fund that is projected to run out later this year. If the fund is not taken care of soon, then construction companies could be forced to start laying off workers and that could lead to an unemployment trend that no one wants to see.
As the residential construction employment trend continues to move upward, the opportunities in the commonwealth of Massachusetts continue to expand. If you want to make the most of those opportunities, then utilize the Massachusetts Contractors Academy to get your supervisor’s license.
As more contractors open up new residential construction projects, the need for licensed supervisors will dramatically increase. If you want to advance your construction career in Massachusetts, then go to the Massachusetts Contractors Academy and start your licensing classes today. You do not pay for the classes until you have completed them and you will gain all of the education you need to pass your supervisor licensing test.
George N Root III is a professional freelance writer who has expertise in topics such as Internet marketing, business, advertising, and personal finance.