Today’s jobs report had some great news for the U.S. construction industry. Overall, construction added 45,000 jobs in April, and specialty trade contractors experienced the strongest growth since March of 2007. Architectural and engineering services, the sector that includes architects and landscape architects, added 3,700 jobs in April. Along with these monthly jobs reports, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also releases data on smaller sectors from the month before. In other words, today’s April jobs report includes March data on job growth for architecture, landscape architecture, and engineering and drafting services.
Job growth in architecture stagnated in March—the worst month for the industry so far in 2015. The industry added 600 jobs in February and 400 jobs in January.
Landscape architecture lost 100 jobs in March, after a slight gain of 300 jobs in February. The BLS initially reported that landscape architecture had lost 200 jobs in February.
Engineering and drafting services added 3,600 jobs in March, up from February’s growth of 2,700 jobs. March was the strongest month for the industry so far in 2015, as well as the strongest since November of last year.
Charts: Maggie Goldstone; Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
