The nonresidential construction sector added 11,800 net new jobs in December, representing nearly 10 percent of the nation’s jobs created during the month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The nation’s overall construction sector added 30,000 net new jobs in December, a 0.4 percent month-over-month increase.

The not seasonally adjusted (NSA) national construction unemployment rate was 5 percent in November, down 0.7 percent from a year ago and the lowest November rate on record, according to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released today by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). The construction industry employed 191,000 more workers than in November 2016. 

Chuck Goodrich, president of Gaylor Electric, Inc., explained the Trump administration’s regulatory rollback is giving construction companies more efficiency and they don’t feel like they are “under attack” from the federal government. According to Goodrich’s presentation, experts say President Trump is on pace to put out fewer rules than the “reigning deregulation champion,” President Ronald Reagan.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Chief Economist Anirban Basu predicts stability for the construction industry’s economy and expanding nonresidential construction spending in 2018. While construction project backlog and contractor confidence remain high heading into the new year, Basu warns there are risks to the 2018 outlook as a number of potential cost increases could come into play.

Providing more evidence of a strengthening economy, Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC) Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI) set a record as it expanded to 9.45 months during the third quarter of 2017, up 9.8 percent from the second quarter to the longest backlog reading in the eight-year history of the series.  CBI is up by 0.8 months, or 9.2 percent, on a year-over-year basis.