Construction's unemployment rate continues to rise, reaching 24.7% in January, its highest level since 2000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported.
BLS's latest monthly employment report, released on Feb. 5, shows that contruction's January jobless rate increased from 22.7% in December and 18.2% in January 2009.
Construction lost 75,000 jobs in January, bringing total jobs lost since December 2007 to 1.9 million.
Construction's 24.7% rate is the industry's highest since 2000, when BLS changed its system for classifying industries. The previous high was December's 22.7%.
Under BLS's pre-2000 classification method, construction's highest jobless rate since 1948 came in February 1983, when it reached 27.3%.
| 2010 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Month | Rate in % | |
| January | 24.7% | |
| 2009 | ||
| December | 22.7% | |
| November | 19.4% | |
| October | 18.7% | |
| Spetember | 17.1% | |
| August | 16.5 | |
| July | 18.2 | |
| June | 17.4 | |
| May | 19.2 | |
| April | 18.7 | |
| March | 21.1 | |
| February | 21.4 | |
| January | 18.2 | |
| Note: Rates are not seasonally adjusted. Source: U.S. Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics | ||
