AGC: Job losses worsen; construction spending, wages cool; ABI stays weak

Nonfarm payroll employment shrank by 467,000 jobs in June, seasonally adjusted, bringing the 12-month total loss to 5,664,000 (-4.1 percent), the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Thursday [July 2]. The unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted (9.5 percent, seasonally adjusted). Construction again had the highest industry unemployment rate, 17.4 percent, not seasonally adjusted, up from 8.2 percent a year earlier. Construction job losses totaled 79,000(-1.3 percent) in June, seasonally adjusted, and 992,000 (-14 percent) over 12 months. All construction job categories had severe monthly and 12-month losses: residential building, -10 percent and -16 percent; residential specialty trade contractors, -1.4 percent and -16 percent; nonresidential building, -1.6 percent and -11 percent; nonresidential specialty trades, -0.9 percent and -13 percent; and heavy and civil engineering, -1.8 percent and -11 percent, according to a July 6 Data DIGest report.

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