The U.S. construction industry added 58,000 jobs in February, according to preliminary data from the Labor Department. Monthly jobs figures can change as the department revises past estimates month to month, but if February’s figure holds, it would be the second-largest monthly construction jobs gain of the last 10 years.
The largest increase of the last decade belongs to March 2007 when the industry added 80,000 jobs before shedding nearly five times that amount over the following 12 months.
A total of 6.881 million Americans are currently employed by the industry, an increase of 3.2 percent over the February 2016 total.
February 2017’s gain follows a preliminary January gain of 40,000 jobs bringing the number of jobs the industry has added since December to nearly 100,000.
The industry’s unemployment rate fell for the first time in three months from 9.4 percent to 8.8 percent.
