U.S. construction employment fell to from 20.1 percent to 17.3 percent between June and July 2010 – but despite that seemingly good news, the number of workers in the industry actually decreased by 11,000, according to an Aug. 6 analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. The third month of construction employment declines, despite the stimulus, reflects overall weak demand for private, local and state funded construction, association officials noted.

“The fact that this industry continues to suffer from unemployment rates nearly double the national average is a reflection of how much demand for construction has cratered in little more than two years,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. “Worse yet, there’s every indication that as the benefits of the stimulus fade the industry’s employment picture will get even worse.”

Sandherr noted that since July 2008, U.S. construction employment has declined by a total of 1,591,000 jobs, a 22 percent drop. “The sad fact is that construction workers have been forced to endure depression-like conditions for far too long.”

The overall July 2010 employment report for all industries released Aug. 6 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics “captured a labor market bogged down in a very painful situation,” reports the Economic Policy Institute. The private sector added 71,000 jobs, but the unemployment rate didn’t improve, it held steady at 9.5 percent. That’s because the overall labor force shrank by 181,000 workers, who either stopped looking for work or never entered the pool of people officially seeking employment.