Employment Trends
The construction workforce has increased over the past decade, accompanied by significant changes in its demographics. With almost 12 million people working in construction in 2023, monitoring employment changes is not only important for recruitment and retainment efforts but also for guiding interventions for worker health and safety.
Construction employment estimates below show how the industry has changed since 2011. They cover trends in overall employment by subsector, labor force composition, and occupation. There are two chart level filters, including the Industry Level and Occupation filters, which update both their respective charts and the bolded and underlined key findings.
Following the interactive dashboard, you will find more information on the data sources, definitions, chart notes, a downloadable data file, and recommended citation. This interactive data dashboard corresponds to a chapter in the upcoming PDF version of the Construction Chart Book-7th edition, which will be published this summer. Data will be updated annually as available. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected].
About the Data
Sarah Flood, Miriam King, Renae Rodgers, Steven Ruggles, J. Robert Warren, and Michael Westberry. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, 2011-2021 Current Population Survey: Version 9.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2022. https://doi.org/10.18128/D030.V9.0.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 2011-2023 Current Employment Statistics (CES) https://www.bls.gov/ces/.
Definitions
- Detailed subsector – 4-digit NAICS codes within construction (e.g. NAICS 2361). Data is available for 5-to-6-digit NAICS codes upon request to [email protected].
- Employed – Individuals who were actively working or were temporarily absent the previous week due to illness, vacation, weather, or a labor dispute.
- Government employee – Employed individuals who work for the local, state, or federal government.
- Labor force composition – Employment status of the worker, such as employed, unemployed, private, self-employed, and government worker.
- Major subsector – 3-digit NAICS codes within construction (NAICS 236, 237, and 238).
- Occupation – The primary occupation of the respondent with the most hours worked.
- Payroll construction – Wage and salary workers in construction.
- Private – Employed individuals who work for the local, state, or federal government.
- Self-employed – Employed individuals who work for themselves or their own legal corporation.
- Unemployed – Individuals who were not working at the time of the survey but reported looking for work in the past four weeks.
- Year-over-Year Change – Percent change compared to previous year (i.e. for 2015, the percent change compared to 2014).