Thursday, February 02, 2012

Construction Job Gains--and Losses

Some of the fastest growing jobs during the next decade will be in construction, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' new projections. The number of jobs in the construction and extraction occupational group will grow by 22 percent between 2010 and 2020--much faster than the 14 percent growth forecast for the labor force as a whole. Among the jobs projected to grow the fastest are carpentry helpers, brickmasons, iron and rebar workers, and glaziers.

But there's a catch. The projected growth will not make up for the jobs lost during the Great Recession. The 7.7 million construction and extraction jobs forecast for 2020 will be 559,000 less than the 8.3 million of 2006. The good news is that they will be 1.4 million more than in 2010.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, January 2012, Employment Outlook 2010-2020

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