Construction Hiring
Gaining Momentum
Construction hiring is picking up,
according to data from the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics. One suspected cause
is that Americans are investing in renovating their homes amid signs that the
worst of the housing market declines may
be over. The number of people working
in residential remodeling grew 5.8% in
December—the highest growth for these
jobs since December 2006.
The number of people working
in residential remodeling grew
5.8% in December—the
highest growth for these jobs
since December 2006.
An index that measures the number
of construction permits filed also indicates growth in construction work. The
BuildFax index rose 23% in December to
127.4 from a year earlier.
“An increase in these jobs should
precede a broader recovery in housing,”
says Ellen Zentner, a senior economist
at Nomura Securities International. “We
have a bit of strengthening that does
appear to be legitimately returning.”
The share of American workers in the
science and engineering professions fell
slightly in the past decade, ending what
had been a steady upward trend in the
proportion of workers in fields associ-
ated with technological innovation and
economic growth. According to a new
analysis of Census data, the number of
workers in technical fields ranging from
architecture to software design accounted
for 4.9% of the labor force in 2010, down
from a peak of 5.3% in 2000.
The number of companies that placed
job ads for recruiters also increased 37%.
During December 2011, more than
1,700 companies advertised recruiter job
openings.
Metropolitan areas with the highest
volume of job ads for recruiters during
this one-month period were New York;
Chicago; Washington, DC; Boston; and
Los Angeles. Companies in New York
placed the most job ads, but Boston
experienced the highest growth in job ad
volume. ➤
During December 2011, employers and staffing firms placed more than
3,900 job ads for recruiters and employ-
Hiring Demand for Recruiters Rises
The number of companies
that advertised for recruiting
positions increased 37% in
December 2011.
ment specialists, according to Wanted
Analytics. The volume of job ads for
recruiters increased 4% from the previous year.
Staffing sales rose nearly 12.4% to $98.3 billion in 2011, according to the latest
American Staffing Association Quarterly Employment and Sales Survey. ASA
corporate partner Inavero, a market research firm, recently released the results,
which also reports an 8.2% increase in employment to 2. 8 million per day. Read
more about the survey results at americanstaffing.net.
