Construction in flux

Covid-19 has left a dangerous swath of lost jobs across the economy. The construction industry is no exception.  According to ENR, roughly 975,000 jobs were lost in April.

According to the article:

“The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest monthly U.S. employment report, released on May 8, painted a grim picture, showing that construction’s total workforce fell in April by 13% from the March level.

The BLS report reflects data as of mid-April and thus do not reflect any reopenings of construction projects in various states since that time.

All sectors of the industry were hurt last month. The specialty trades contractors segment was hardest hit, losing 690,500 jobs.

The buildings construction workforce dropped by 206,100 and heavy-civil engineering construction, which includes infrastructure work, lost 78,900 jobs.

Architectural and engineering services, which BLS categorizes separately from construction, lost 85,200 jobs during the month.”

Will there be a rebound? Yes. Most certainly. When will it happen? That is tougher to predict. How strong will it be? Even tougher. The thing to remember, though, is that we are all in this together.