Construction Employment
The construction sector employs approximately 5.2% of the American workforce, according to Industry at a Glance, an online profile of American business maintained by the BLS. In 2003, 6,722,000 workers were employed by construction businesses. Preliminary figures for 2004 indicated that construction employment had risen to an annual level of 6,965,000, which would be the best year for construction employment since 2001
TABLE 2.1
| Gross output by industry in current dollars, 2000–2003 | |||||
| [Billions of dollars] | |||||
| Line | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | |
| 1Consists of agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting; mining; construction; and manufacturing. | |||||
| 2Consists of utilities; wholesale trade; retail trade; transportation and warehousing; information; finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing; professional and business services; educational services, health care, and social assistance; arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services; and other services, except government. | |||||
| SOURCE: "Table 8. Gross Output by Industry in Current Dollars, 2000–03," in Annual Industry Accounts: Revised Estimates for 2001–2003 by George M. Smith, Matthew J. Gruenberg, Tameka R. L. Harris, and Erich H. Strassner, Bureau of Economic Analysis, January 2005, http://www.bea.gov/bea/ARTICLES/2005/01January/0105_Industry_Acct.pdf (accessed February 24, 2004) | |||||
| 1 | All industries | 18,186.5 | 18,403.2 | 18,811.1 | 19,732.8 |
| 2 | Private industries | 16,287.7 | 16,384.1 | 16,655.4 | 17,427.8 |
| 3 | Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting | 254.3 | 258.7 | 249.6 | 275.1 |
| 4 | Farms | 203.6 | 210.8 | 201.9 | 223.8 |
| 5 | Forestry, fishing, and related activities | 50.7 | 47.9 | 47.7 | 51.3 |
| 6 | Mining | 215.9 | 224.4 | 193.7 | 243.7 |
| 7 | Oil and gas extraction | 137.6 | 132.2 | 111.5 | 156.0 |
| 8 | Mining, except oil and gas | 47.6 | 48.9 | 49.4 | 49.0 |
| 9 | Support activities for mining | 30.7 | 43.3 | 32.8 | 38.7 |
| 10 | Utilities | 319.5 | 343.4 | 329.8 | 356.1 |
| 11 | Construction | 861.5 | 899.8 | 908.9 | 954.8 |
| 12 | Manufacturing | 4,144.5 | 3,896.4 | 3,832.1 | 3,915.2 |
| 13 | Durable goods | 2,328.2 | 2,128.8 | 2,084.9 | 2,090.3 |
| 14 | Wood products | 94.1 | 86.9 | 87.8 | 92.4 |
| 15 | Nonmetallic mineral products | 95.9 | 93.3 | 87.3 | 86.1 |
| 16 | Primary metals | 155.0 | 135.9 | 134.2 | 128.2 |
| 17 | Fabricated metal products | 263.9 | 248.5 | 246.7 | 240.4 |
| 18 | Machinery | 281.6 | 253.2 | 245.9 | 243.5 |
| 19 | Computer and electronic products | 500.8 | 418.8 | 385.2 | 408.7 |
| 20 | Electrical equipment, appliances, and components | 121.7 | 109.9 | 99.8 | 97.6 |
| 21 | Motor vehicles, bodies and trailers, and parts | 466.8 | 420.2 | 436.0 | 423.7 |
| 22 | Other transportation equipment | 156.8 | 173.9 | 170.0 | 170.1 |
| 23 | Furniture and related products | 74.0 | 70.6 | 68.6 | 68.0 |
| 24 | Miscellaneous manufacturing | 117.6 | 117.4 | 123.4 | 131.5 |
| 25 | Nondurable goods | 1,816.3 | 1,767.7 | 1,747.2 | 1,824.9 |
| 26 | Food and beverage and tobacco products | 557.1 | 571.3 | 571.8 | 573.8 |
| 27 | Textile mills and textile product mills | 84.5 | 76.2 | 75. | 74.1 |
| 28 | Apparel and leather and allied products | 66.4 | 56.5 | 58.1 | 58.3 |
| 29 | Paper products | 162.4 | 153.6 | 149.9 | 156.9 |
| 30 | Printing and related support activities | 103.4 | 100.1 | 97.7 | 94.4 |
| 31 | Petroleum and coal products | 230.4 | 217.5 | 205.9 | 239.6 |
| 32 | Chemical products | 437.6 | 425.0 | 412.3 | 445.9 |
| 33 | Plastics and rubber products | 174.6 | 167.5 | 175.7 | 181.8 |
| 34 | Wholesale trade | 867.2 | 851.3 | 871.7 | 909.7 |
| 35 | Retail trade | 1,011.1 | 1,021.0 | 1,091.4 | 1,132.7 |
| 36 | Transportation and warehousing | 592.9 | 571.4 | 572.1 | 592.5 |
| 37 | Air transportation | 121.9 | 106.0 | 101.1 | 116.8 |
| 38 | Rail transportation | 42.7 | 43.9 | 44.5 | 46.1 |
| 39 | Water transportation | 28.9 | 28.8 | 28.1 | 30.4 |
| 40 | Truck transportation | 213.2 | 205.7 | 204.1 | 196.8 |
| 41 | Transit and ground passenger transportation | 25.3 | 25.3 | 25.5 | 26.4 |
| 42 | Pipeline transportation | 26.8 | 27.7 | 31.7 | 31.2 |
| 43 | Other transportation and support activities | 101.7 | 100.2 | 99.0 | 101.7 |
| 44 | Warehousing and storage | 32.7 | 33.9 | 38.1 | 43 |
| 45 | Information | 959.2 | 1,000.6 | 1,006.0 | 1,037.7 |
| 46 | Publishing industries (includes software) | 242.2 | 242.8 | 240.4 | 244.4 |
| 47 | Motion picture and sound recording industries | 77.0 | 78.4 | 81.3 | 85.6 |
| 48 | Broadcasting and telecommunications | 554.9 | 587.8 | 586.7 | 609.1 |
| 49 | Information and data processing services | 85.2 | 91.6 | 97.5 | 98.5 |
| 50 | Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing | 3,070.1 | 3,137.1 | 3,245.6 | 3,438.7 |
| 51 | Finance and insurance | 1,389.1 | 1,361.7 | 1,356.0 | 1,437.0 |
| 52 | Federal Reserve banks, credit intermediation, and related activities | 533.8 | 555.6 | 584.9 | 612.0 |
| 53 | Securities, commodity contracts, and investments | 341.1 | 284.7 | 242.6 | 248.5 |
| 54 | Insurance carriers and related activities | 428.0 | 441.5 | 456.4 | 495.7 |
| 55 | Funds, trusts, and other financial vehicles | 86.1 | 79.8 | 72.2 | 80.8 |
| 56 | Real estate and rental and leasing | 1,681.0 | 1,775.4 | 1,889.6 | 2,001.6 |
| 57 | Real estate | 1,475.8 | 1,570.4 | 1,693.2 | 1,803.9 |
| 58 | Rental and leasing services and lessors of intangible assets | 205.2 | 205.0 | 196.4 | 197.8 |
| 59 | Professional and business services | 1,813.5 | 1,877.0 | 1,917.6 | 2,007.1 |
| 60 | Professional, scientific, and technical services | 1,036.5 | 1,105.6 | 1,129.9 | 1,192.1 |
| 61 | Legal services | 181.4 | 193.4 | 202.7 | 220.3 |
| 62 | Computer systems design and related services | 172.6 | 173.3 | 161.6 | 167.5 |
| 63 | Miscellaneous professional, scientific, and technical services | 682.4 | 738.9 | 765.6 | 804.3 |
| 64 | Management of companies and enterprises | 300.6 | 290.4 | 291.5 | 304.6 |
| 65 | Administrative and waste management services | 476.4 | 481.0 | 496.2 | 510.4 |
| 66 | Administrative and support services | 425.6 | 429.7 | 444.3 | 455.3 |
| 67 | Waste management and remediation services | 50.8 | 51.3 | 52.0 | 55.1 |
| 68 | Educational services, health care, and social assistance | 1,109.9 | 1,201.9 | 1,296.4 | 1,372.8 |
| 69 | Educational services | 140.5 | 150.5 | 157.4 | 163.0 |
| 70 | Health care and social assistance | 969.4 | 1,051.3 | 1,139.0 | 1,209.8 |
| 71 | Ambulatory health care services | 451.2 | 488.3 | 526.7 | 562.2 |
| 72 | Hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities | 430.0 | 464.1 | 506.7 | 535.9 |
| 73 | Social assistance | 88.3 | 98.9 | 105.6 | 111.7 |
| 74 | Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services | 640.0 | 655.1 | 682.7 | 719.6 |
| 75 | Arts, entertainment, and recreation | 147.1 | 154.1 | 163.6 | 170.5 |
| 76 | Performing arts, spectator sports, museums, and related activities | 65.9 | 70.6 | 75.9 | 78.5 |
| 77 | Amusements, gambling, and recreation industries | 81.2 | 83.6 | 87.7 | 92.0 |
| 78 | Accommodation and food services | 492.9 | 500.9 | 519.1 | 549.1 |
| 79 | Accommodation | 137.6 | 130.7 | 132.2 | 135.1 |
| 80 | Food services and drinking places | 355.3 | 370.2 | 386.8 | 414.0 |
| 81 | Other services, except government | 428.3 | 445.9 | 457.9 | 472.2 |
| 82 | Government | 1,898.8 | 2,019.2 | 2,155.7 | 2,305.0 |
| 83 | Federal | 592.0 | 623.8 | 684.5 | 755.4 |
| 84 | General government | 509.2 | 541.0 | 601.8 | 667.4 |
| 85 | Government enterprises | 82.9 | 82.8 | 82.7 | 87.9 |
| 86 | State and local | 1,306.8 | 1,395.4 | 1,471.2 | 1,549.6 |
| 87 | General government | 1,153.2 | 1,229.1 | 1,301.8 | 1,371.2 |
| 88 | Government enterprises | 153.6 | 166.3 | 169.4 | 178.4 |
| Addenda: | |||||
| 89 | Private goods-producing industries1 | 5,476.1 | 5,279.4 | 5,184.3 | 5,388.8 |
| 90 | Private services-producing industries2 | 10,811.6 | 11,104.7 | 11,471.1 | 12,039.0 |
(6,826,000). However, according to the BLS, the unemployment rate for construction workers was 9.3% in 2003, higher than the overall unemployment rate of 6% that year. The BLS also estimated in Career Guide to Industries: 2004–05 Edition that approximately 1.6 million construction industry workers were self-employed in 2002, including more than 40% of painters, paperhangers, and flooring installers.
Construction employment often fluctuates throughout the year, especially in areas of the country that experience severe winter weather. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), an industry advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., estimated in Transportation Construction Industry Employment (February 2005) that construction industry employment totaled 6,985,000 in December 2004. The ARTBA broke out the total by sub-sector, including 923,400 employees in residential building, 751,600 in nonresidential building, 319,000 in highway, street and bridge building, 367,300 in utility system construction, 86,100 in land subdivision, 95,000 in other heavy construction, 1,002,100 in building foundation and exteriors, 1,887,900 in building equipment, 926,900 in building finishing, and 625,700 in other specialty trades. The largest groups, building equipment contractors (27%), building foundation and exterior contractors (13.7%), building finishing contractors (13.3%), and residential building (13.2%) accounted for more than two-thirds of U.S. construction employment in December 2004.
Home Building
One subsector of the construction industry is the home building and remodeling industry. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the construction and remodeling of housing in the United States accounts annually for about 15% of the gross domestic product (GDP), the nation's total economic activity. In 2003 the number of new homes sold exceeded one million for the first time in history, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The NAHB, in Housing 2004: Facts, Figures & Trends, estimated that for each one thousand single-family homes built in the United States, 2,448 construction jobs are generated, and approximately $79.4 million in wages are paid. The NAHB further noted that the economic impact of housing on the national economy includes purchases made by homeowners during the first year of homeownership, including an average $8,905 spent on such items as furnishings, appliances, and property alterations.
Road and Transportation Construction
Another subsector of the construction industry builds roads, railroads, seaports, and airports. According to the ARTBA, construction contracts awarded in 2004 totaled more than $45.7 billion dollars. This sum, which resulted from 29,676 separate contracts, was more than $1 billion below the 2003 total. In 2004, according to ARTBA's U.S. Transportation Construction Market Report, highway construction totaled $31.5 billion on 23,432 projects; bridge and tunnel contracts totaled $10 billion; airport construction contracts amounted to $1.7 billion; railroad construction accounted for $2 billion; and construction projects on docks, piers, and wharves totaled about $550 million.
Annual employment numbers in the transportation and road construction industry were up in 2004 after a downturn in 2003. According to Transportation Construction Industry Employment Annual Report—2004, prepared by ARTBA and available online (www.artba.org), the monthly average for highway, street, and bridge employment in 2004 was nearly 347,700. This represented a 2.2% increase over the 2003 average (340,100) and a 20.5% increase since 1990 (288,500). The average highway, street, and bridge worker spent 41.5 hours on the job each week during 2004 and earned a weekly paycheck of approximately $801.
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