The weekly Quikrete Industry Dashboard
Another month of a sub-four unemployment rate is one of the highlights of the latest Quikrete Industry Dashboard. The collection of major macroeconomic metrics also shows a satisfying lineup of positive numbers on the stock-market grid.
First to review is unemployment: down slightly to 3.6 percent in June, from 3.7 percent in the previous month. The latest reading from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is unchanged from the same month last year.
The bureau reported that employment continued to trend up in construction, which showed in increase of 23,000 jobs. Employment in the industry has increased by an average of 15,000 per month thus far this year, compared with an average of 22,000 per month in 2022.
In June, employment in residential specialty trade contractors also continued to trend up, gaining 10,000 jobs.
Employment continued to decline in building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers, down 10,000 jobs.
Retail trade employment changed little in June, according to the report.
Meanwhile, almost all the numbers were positive on the Stock Roundup, with Builders FirstSource once again leading the charge— BLDR is up 122.2 percent from a year ago. All ten ticker symbols tracked by HBSDealer are in the top-right growth quadrant, except for Stanley Black & Decker, which is up 9 percent for the month, but down 16.3 percent for the year.
Also noteworthy among annual gains: Beacon is up 52.2 percent for the year; Lowe’s is up 26.3 percent.
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Coming next: A quiet period of government-based Dashboard stats will end July 18 with the release of NAICS 444 sales. That data will be followed in the next two days by residential construction numbers and existing home sales, released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Association of Realtors, respectively.
The residential construction release will be greatly anticipated by industry stakeholders hopeful that May’s 21.7 percent month-over-month surge in total starts will continue in June with sustained momentum.
