This month I am pleased to share the CPWR Data Center's first Quarterly Data Report. The topic could not be more timely:  Employment Trends and Projections in Construction. Drawing on its long-established expertise with U.S. Government data sources, especially those produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Data Center has prepared an excellent summary of the construction employment picture and illustrated it with compelling charts.

With two consecutive years of solid growth in construction employment, it's looking more and more like the downturn is well in our rear-view mirror. We haven't bounced back to pre-crisis employment, though -- construction employment in heavy and civil construction is still down 7% from 2007 levels, and building construction employment is off by more than 20% -- so there's still much work to be done. Readers of the Report can dive into the details and learn how employment in their trade or state is faring, and also discover how our industry's shifts have affected union density.

Readers will also find employment projections for different construction sectors and trades in the decade to come. BLS analysts forecast construction employment growth outstripping the industry as a whole, with brickmasons, cement masons, insulators, carpenters and laborers increasing their ranks by more than 30% between 2012 and 2022. The Data Center extends this picture by examining the anticipated employment growth by state: if current projections hold, the West and Southeast are in for large construction employment increases.

This is just a small portion of what's available. Click Employment Trends and Projections in Construction to read the entire Data Report, or to download the charts for your own use in research and presentations.