Employment hits 10-year high in July; unemployment, job openings set series records
Nonfarm payroll employment in July increased by 157,000, seasonally adjusted, from June and by 2,400,000 (1.6%) year-over-year (y/y), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. The unemployment rate edged down to 3.9% from 4.0% in June. Construction employment rose by 19,000 for the month and 308,000 (4.4%) y/y to 7,242,000 (the most since May 2008 but 6.3% below the July 2006 peak). Average hourly earnings in construction rose 3.2% y/y to $29.86, or 10% more than the private-sector average ($27.05, up 2.7% y/y). The unemployment rate in construction, not seasonally adjusted, fell from 4.9% in July 2017 to 3.4%, the lowest since the series began in 2000. (Not-seasonally-adjusted data may be affected by normal weather and holiday patterns and thus should not be compared to levels in other months.)
Construction spending totaled $1.317 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in June, down 1.1% from the upwardly revised May rate but up 6.1% from June 2017, the Census Bureau reported on Wednesday. Public construction slumped 3.5% for the month but increased 4.9% y/y. Of the three largest public segments, highway and street construction slid 1.3% for the month but increased 6.3% y/y; educational construction plunged 11% for the month and 6.6% y/y; and transportation dipped 0.8% from May but rose 12% y/y (+22% y/y for state and local airport construction and 2.0% for other public transportation—port, transit and passenger rail)… read more datadigest20180807