According to the Data DIGest, employment did better than expected as the unemployment rate dropped from 8.5% in December 2011 to 8.3% in January 2012 as construction employment rose by 21,000 jobs. January's gain in construction employment led to a two year high of 5,572,000, up 2.1% from January 2011. Gains in both December 2011 and January 2012 are attributed partly to widespread mild and dry weather.

However high January's total was, it is still 28% below the peak set in April 2006. By sector, heavy and civil engineering construction employment increased 2.6% while nonresidential building and specialty trade contractors increased 2%. Residential building and specialty trade contractors were up 2.1% (41,000 jobs). The unemployment rate for construction workers was 17.7% in January, down from 22.5% the previous year. Real GDP gained 2.8% in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 1.8% in the third quarter. For 4Q11, real private investment in non residential structures dropped 7.2% while real residential investment gained 11%, and real government investment in structures slipped 0.5%.

BLS wrote that "Industries and occupations related to health care, personal care and social assistance, and construction are projected to have the fastest job growth between 2010 and 2020, accounting for 25% of all new jobs this decade."

It added that "Despite rapid growth in the construction sector [1.8 million jobs or 2.9% per year], employment in 2020 is not expected to reach its pre recessionary annual average peak of 7.7 million in 2006. More than one fourth of the projected fastest growing occupations are related to construction. But employment in most construction occupations is not expected to reach pre recession levels."

(Sourced from Data DIGest)