Projected headcount increases will still be below 2006 level
Employment in the construction sector is projected to increase from more than 5.5 million in 2010 to nearly 7.4 million in 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The increase of1.8 million jobs, an annual rate of growth of 2.9 percent, is the largest increase in employment among all industries. In 2006, the construction industry had 7.7million wage and salary jobs. While the number of jobs projected to be added in the industry between 2010 and2020 is large, the number still is projected to be below that held in 2006.
The construction industry was hit particularly hard by the recession, causing the annual employment for the wage and salary workers to fall by 2.1 million jobs for the 2007–2010 period, according to BLS. This fall represents a 10-percent annual rate of decline. The relatively low starting point for 2010 contributes to the large change and relatively fast the grow rate of employment projected for 2010–2020. During the earlier 2000–2010 period, the share of total employment held by construction fell from 4.6 percent to 3.9 percent, according to BLS. Because the employment rate in the construction industry is expected to grow faster than the overall employment rate, the percentage of all industry employees is expected to rise to 4.5 percent in 2020.