The Quikrete Industry Dashboard
Unemployment remained at 3.7% for the third straight month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Feb. 2.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 353,000 jobs in January as the total number of unemployed people stood at 6.1 million, showing little change from the previous month.
Retail trade employment increased by 45,000 in January but has shown little net growth since early 2023. Electronics and appliance retailers lost 3,000 jobs, however.
Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including construction, wholesale trade, transportation, and warehousing.
Employment in the overall construction sector increased by 11,000 in January, following an upwardly revised 24,000 gains in December. While residential construction added 2,700 jobs, non-residential construction employment moved ahead by 7,600 jobs for the month.
Residential construction employment now stands at 3.3 million in January, broken down into 938,000 builders and 2.4 million residential specialty trade contractors, the National Association of Home Builders reports.
Over the last 12 months, home builders and remodelers added 60,100 jobs on a net basis. Since the low point following the Great Recession, residential construction has gained 1,350,300 positions.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate for construction workers rose by 0.7 percentage points to 5.2%.
Oil and gas extraction demonstrated a gain of 2,000 jobs in January.
But prices are ticking upward at the pumps across the nation.
AAA reports that the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at $3.15 on Feb. 2 compared to $3.10 per gallon a month ago.
Another major metric updated on the latest Quikrete Industry Dashboard is Consumer Confidence. On Jan 30, the Conference Board reported that Consumer Confidence hit a three-year high and increased to 114.8 from a revised reading of 108.0 in December 2023.
While not on a metric measured on the Quikrete Industry Dashboard, spring could see an early arrival in 2024.
Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow after waking up on Friday morning, Feb. 2, calling for an early spring. Phil has provided his seasonal forecast since 1887.
The famous groundhog made no mention of a possible upcoming cut in interest rates, however.