After losing 2.7 million jobs in the Great Recession, 68 million women are now working, 100,000 below the all-time high set in 4/08. By contrast, men lost 5.9 million jobs in the Recession, and currently 76.4 million men are employed, down from a high of 78.5 million in 11/07. Male employment is still down by 2.1 million because so many men were employed in hard hit construction and manufacturing.
Tag Archives: construction employment
House Work
Part of the reason employment growth is so weak is that despite sizable increases in residential construction spending, increases in construction employment have been MIA. From April 2012 to April 2013, residential construction put-in-place increased from $249 billion to $295 billion, an 18% rise. However, during the same period, the number of residential building employees and residential specialty trade contractors rose from 2,048,100 to 2,131,800 or by just 4%!