The record rebound continued in June’s jobs expansion with a historic 4.8 million re-employments according the latest Labor Department figures. Construction non-seasonally adjusted levels saw continued improvement with unemployment sliding down to 10.1 percent [a drop of 2.6 percent points from May, but still up 6.1 percentage points from a year ago in June 2019 when it stood at only 4.0%].  Overall, employment in the construction industry grew by 158,000 positions in June (for a combined rebound of 611,000 jobs, cutting over half the total 1.1 million losses from March and April). The rehires where dispersed throughout the industry, including for example: (+135,000) in specialty fields and (+32,000) in buildings.

The overall unemployment figure continued to recede from its record crest in April, settling at 11.1 percent, down 2.2 percentage points in a month.  (“Unemployed persons” also fell 3.2 million to a total of 17.8 million per the government count). The “labor force participation” rate continued to climb to 61.5 percent. [NOTE: The “labor force participation” rate works inversely to the overall unemployment figures. Meaning: as it deteriorates/gets worse or smaller, it actually is counted as improving unemployment (i.e., people leaving the workforce are no longer viewed/counted as unemployed by the DOL)].  The “employment to population ratio” rose to 54.6 percent as well.  Average hourly earnings for employees remains high at $24.74 due mostly to the fact lower wage earners remain out of work in market segments still in partial shutdowns by government orders. 

See the Workforce Statistics Chart.