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National payroll construction employment was 231,000 higher in December 2022 than in December 2021. Plus, the industry unemployment rate of 4.6% was the second lowest on record, higher than only the 4.5% unemployment rate observed in 2019. The industry averaged more than 390,000 job openings per month in 2022, the highest level on record. “As the demand for construction services remains high, filling these roles with skilled craft professionals is vital to America’s economy and infrastructure rebuilding initiatives.” “The construction industry must recruit hundreds of thousands of qualified, skilled construction professionals each year to build the places where we live, work, play, worship, learn, and heal,” says Michael Bellaman, ABC president and CEO. With that data, the association determined approximately 3,620 new jobs are created per billion dollars of additional construction spending.
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To calculate this number, ABC uses the historical relationship between inflation-adjusted construction spending growth and payroll construction employment. Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) reports the construction industry will need to attract an estimated 546,000 additional workers on top of the normal pace of hiring to meet the demand for labor in 2023.
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