Job Gains Accelerate in July

Total payroll employment rose by 943,000, and the unemployment rate dropped sharply to 5.4% in July. Both residential and nonresidential construction showed modest job gains of 8,300 and 2,900, respectively, climbing to a total employment of 7.4 million. NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz discusses the jobs report on Twitter:

Residential construction expanded by a muted 8,300 jobs in July, with no net gain for residential contractors, as the cooling trend continues. However, at 3.04 million, res construction jobs are up 171,700 over the last year. @NAHBhome

— Robert Dietz (@dietz_econ) August 6, 2021

Currently, residential construction employment exceeds its level in February 2020 and now stands at 3 million, comprising 883,000 builders and 2.2 million residential specialty trade contractors. However, only 56% of nonresidential construction jobs lost in March and April have been recovered. In July, the unemployment rate for construction declined to 7.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis. The unemployment rate for construction workers has been trending lower, after reaching 14.1% in April 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nation's overall unemployment rate declined by 0.5% to 5.4% in July — down 9.4% from the April 2020 rate (14.8%), and 1.9% higher than the unemployment rate in February 2020. Jing Fu, NAHB director of forecasting and analysis, provides more details — including a breakdown of employment by industry — in this Eye on Housing blog post.