Construction employment improves in April
Industry's unemployment rate falls to 17.8 percent for month.
The national construction unemployment rate fell for the fourth consecutive month as the industry experienced modest job growth in April.
Continuing a decline, the industry's unemployment rate fell to 17.8 percent, down from 20 percent in March and 21.8 percent at the same time last year, according to a report by Associated Builders and Contractors Inc.
Last month, the construction industry alone saw the addition of about 5,000 jobs, about 2 percent of the 244,000 jobs the nation added. Despite the subtle bump in job growth for construction, the industry still has lost 42,000 jobs compared to figures from a year ago.
Anirban Basu, the chief economist for the Associated Builders and Contractors, said the industry's sluggish performance is partly due to strict lending standards, high vacancy rates of existing buildings and investor uncertainty.
Source: San Antonio Express
