According to a recent CareerBuilder and Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI), commercial and industrial building is outpacing residential construction, despite strong growth in remodeling and new housing developments. U.S. construction employment is still lagging, but based on the findings, many areas of the industry are reporting steady job growth.
Heavy and civil engineering construction, in particular, has been the fastest growing sector since 2011.
Looking at new building construction, jobs in the residential sector are projected to grow 3% from 2011 to the end of 2014, bringing total employment to about 1,038,000 jobs. Commercial building jobs, meanwhile, are projected to grow slightly faster at 4%, to about 764,000 jobs.
Check out more information on residential construction jobs and salary via BLS.gov.
The analysis uses EMSI’s extensive labor market database, which pulls from more than 90 national and state employment resources and includes detailed information on employees and self-employed workers.
“It will be awhile before employment in construction reaches levels seen during the housing bubble, but recent job growth, particularly in residential remodeling and industrial construction, signal healthier consumer confidence and private-sector investment,†says Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder. “The industry is an important economic bellwether, as growth has positive ripple effects up and down supply chains. Fortunately, we’re seeing significant year-over-year increases in job listings on CareerBuilder across a range of titles, including laborers, building inspectors, carpenters, and operating engineers.â€
Residential vs. Non-Residential Construction Jobs
While job creation for residential and commercial building construction have been on similar paths since 2011, differing trends are evident within each sector.
Residential Building
Driven by a decline through the remainder of 2014, jobs in new single-family housing construction are projected to drop 14% from 2011 to 2014. However, this is made up by strong gains in residential remodeling (17% growth) and new multifamily housing construction (7% growth).
Employment among new housing operative builders— developers who construct and sell multiple residential properties on a piece of land—is projected to grow 11%. In total, these residential building sub-industries are projected to add 32,630 jobs from 2011 through the end of 2014.
Non-Residential Building
Industrial building construction jobs are projected to grow 6%, outpacing commercial and institutional building construction, which is expected to grow 3%. Together, the projected gains total 27,439 new jobs.