Residential construction employment rose by 8,500 in May and by 149,000 over the past year. The steepest annual wage growth among construction workers was for heavy and civil engineering construction at 5.1%, next came residential building at 4.8%. Moreover, the number of unemployed jobseekers last working in construction is just 569,000, the lowest May total since 2005 and at an unemployment rate of 6.7%, the lowest May rate since 2006.