The Mortgage Bankers Association points out that the October’s Employment Situation Report said 531k jobs were added over most sectors of the economy and the unemployment rate decreased further to 4.6%. There were around 44k construction jobs were added in October with a fourth of those being residential construction and residential specialty trade contractors. However, MBA says even though production has picked up, home builders are facing labor shortages, rising costs for building materials and low availability of these materials, limited lot availability, and more. A recent MBA “chart of the week” examines the growth rates of single-family construction and residential construction workers since the trough in home building activity in April 2020. It highlights the shortfall in labor growth despite elevated levels of single-family starts. Indeed…
“The growth rates in construction jobs continue to lag that of single-family starts and as of the most recent months’ data, single-family starts were 57% higher than in April 2020, while residential construction and contractor payrolls were 25% and 22% higher, respectively. New homes are needed to ease inventory shortages across the country, especially for entry-level and starter homes, which is contributing to stiff buying competition and rapidly rising home prices”
Click here to read the full report at the Mortgage Bankers Association.
